New Thunder
by Meinos Kaen
Summary: Neo Domino City is going to become the battleground for a battle that repeats once every 5000 years. This time though, it's going to be different from what one would expect. A man comes to Neo Domino City, looking for a new thunder. Yu-Gi-Oh GX X-Over RXR
1. First Thunder

Disclaimer: I don't own either Yu-Gi-Oh GX nor Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's

So, I am on a YuGiOh starve in the last few months. Went through the first two seasons of GX (again) and the first of 5Ds like they were water and the tag force games. So, I thought I could make my take on it, using as main character my favourite one. Maybe you already guessed who he is from the title, but hey, if you didn't, I'm not going to spoiler. Last note before I let you to read: I'm going to use the original japanese names, here. No Leo and Luna, Rua and Ruka. Nice? Nice. Now, enjoy! My first take on YuGiOh fanfiction!

_Prologue_

"Hmm-hmm... Hmmm..." She hummed to herself as she brushed her hair a few more times before finally tying them in place in the usual two tails that made up her look, before she put the brush back to his place and focused her attention on her uniform. Everything was in place, not a wrinkle. She smiled at herself, her aquamarine locks swinging as she turned around.

It was the start of a new scholastic year at Neo Domino City's Duel Academia, and as always, each year, she wanted to look at her best. Her mother always told her that if the first day of school went well, then the whole year would go well. She had always believed in that and always tried to look and act her best on the first day of school.

"Ahhhh! Where's my shirt?" Her brother, on the other hand... "Ruka! Did you..."

"Your closet, Rua." She didn't need to look behind to know that he had completely forgot to look for the first place where one would usually look for clothes into. His nervous laugh as he backed away was indicative. She sighed as she checked her school-bag for the last time, thinking about just how Rua seemed to be anything but similar to herself. It was like everything that got left out of her had gone to Rua... Including a healthy body, it seemed. She got sick so often that it wasn't funny.

"Alright! I'm ready!" She picked up her school-bag and walked out of her room, finding her brother still trying to tuck the shirt in while munching on a pancake hanging on for dear life from his mouth. "I'm gonna kick ass this year in school!"

"I hope you can get better grades too, Rua... Last year's report wasn't very encouraging." Rua just laughed a bit more.

"Heee... I will do better this year, I'm sure!" Ruka rolled her eyes. If only wishing could make things true, her twin would already be Duel King and a superhero.

-Breakline-

"Ahhh! Patty! Bob! Tenpei! Wait for us!" The two twins were currently running, risking being late because Rua had forgot his school-bag and had to go back and pick it up. Their three friends just laughed at their predicament.

"I bet Rua-kun forgot his school-bag!" Patty giggled as the two finally came to a halt, the younger of the siblings panting and the older one sighing in relief, since if their three friends were walking that relaxedly it meant they still had time before class started. It was the first day so they wouldn't be doing much, but still, being late on the first day would have been a very bad start.

"Guilty as charged..." Rua replied, laughing out loud right after. He then threw himself past bobby and over Tenpei, latching around his neck. "Hey, Tenpei! You've got some new machine cards, didn't you? Didn't you? Let's trade!"

"Ahhh! Rua, get off!" The bespectacled kid lost his footing and fell to the ground with the aquamarine boy on top of him, much to the laughter of the others. Ruka finally regained enough breath to stop panting and smiled uneasily at her classmates.

"Good morning, Ruka!" Bob cheerfully saluted her, while Patty looked at her female friend with a bit more apprehension.

"Hmm... You're still sickly, Ruka? That's too bad..." She sighed and straightened her posture, crossing her arms over her chest. "Seriously... I thought you would have gotten better over break. You stay almost all day holed up in your house... It's a great house, but I wish you could come out and play more often."

"It's alright... I was born like this, so it's not like I can do much about it." Ruka tried to make her smile a bit more charming and calming, but it didn't seem to have that much of an effect on Patty. She tried tactic number two: changing the subject, just as Tenpei got back on his feet and they all started walking towards the academy's doors. "So... How was your break?"

"Hmm... It was nice. Me and my parents went on vacation! We visited lots of famous places, you know!" Patty suddenly went starry eyed. "And we even went to see a pro dueling match! It was beautiful!"

"Ahhhh! Pro dueling?" Rua let go of Tenpei and was suddenly in Patty's face, much to her surprise. He moved to her right to let her walk, but he kept his head in her field of view. "How was it? Who fought? Who won? What cards..."

"One question at a time, Rua-kun!" Patty stopped the torrent of questions, and Rua just grinned at her. The dark-skinned girl sighed and put a finger to her mouth. "Hmm... I was sleepy because it was late. I don't remember the names of the duelists..."

"Ahhh, too bad... What do you remember?" Rua went through depression and back to high spirits in the arc of two seconds.

"Well... I remember that it was a retirement match." Bob blinked, confused.

"A retirement match?"

"It means that it's the last match before retiring from pro dueling of one of the contestants." Tenpei explained, earning a 'Ooooh' of understanding from Bob. Patty nodded.

"Yes, but... Now that I think about it it's strange... I mean, it's usually old people who retire, right? Both the duelists, though, were really young. That I remember." The blonde haired girl continued, and Rua pressed her on for details.

"Then? Come on, tell me who won! How did he won? What did he look like?" Patty focused and recalled back to the duel.

"Well, one duelist had black hair, while the other aquamarine one... Only lighter than your own, and wore glasses... It happened that..."

-Breakline-

_Ten days before_

"I-I-I-Incredibleeeeeeeeee! This duel is getting better and better the more it nears its end! As expected from these two duelists!" The roars of the crowd were proof enough that the duel was one of the best anyone had ever seen, but the commentator was the most excited of the whole stadium if the volume of his voice were any indication. "These two young duelists share almost everything! The same age of twenty-one years old, the same day of debut in the pro league, the same three years long career, the same undefeated streak of duels! Today, tonight, though, only one will come out of this dome still !"

The commentator went on to expose the latest moves while everyone observed the field, the two opponents staring at each, one with one big machine type monster on his side of the field, the other one with not a single card face down on the field and just one in his hands, and yet, they were both smiling at each other, the second one a bit more soberly, even if he was the one with the worse situation. He had 1100 life points left while his opponent had only 900, but his field was wide open with the exception of a trap card, while his adversary had one monster with 3000 Attack on his side of the field.

"... This has been a long time coming, hasn't it, hn?" He said, then sighing longingly as he remembered past times long lost.

"Indeed... But are you sure this is what you really want?" The opponent said, remembering that this was supposed to be the other's retirement match. "Retiring? After only three years?"

"I'm already on top of the world, pipsqueak." He snorted. His usual character was back. "I'm an undefeated duelist, I was rich to begin with, I'm beautiful... Why, I might dare to say that I'm perfect." He sweatdropped as he noticed that his ego hadn't changed one bit either. "... There's only one thing left that I want from life... Well, two, actually." And the blush and the stupid face told him that his crush was still there as well, even if it disappeared right after. "But I realized that I can't have one of them by staying in the pro world, staying in one place."

"... It's about aniki, right? I'm sure he..."

"Your aniki doesn't care about the pro world. He doesn't care about dueling like he did before... Not any more." He raised his left arm, bringing up the duel disk and he swiftly drew a card from the deck. "The time for waiting is done. It's time I become proactive about the matter."

"... Well, nice of you to leave me the only unbeaten duelist of our joined group as a farewell gift, then." He smirked as his dark haired opponent looked at the card he had just drew. "I did my homework. I watched all your duels and know the composition of your deck. You're out of gamebreaking cards."

"Am I, now? And yes, I noticed. You modified your deck so that you always had a nice counter for all my moves... But, I noticed that you didn't do it fully." That smirk. He suddenly tensed. Even back in the academy, whenever he smirked like that, it never meant well for him. "About the rules of his duel."

"Huh? What do you mean?" The bespectacled duelist was confused, and his opponent just chuckled.

"Retirement duels are one of the few occasions when duelists are allowed to add forbidden cards to their decks." He paled as his opponent raised his hand and a card out of his other hand to the sky. Indeed, he didn't know that. "Trap Card, activate!"

"A Trap Card...!" While he may not have known about that detail, he remembered the list of all the cards forbidden by the league. The crowd roared and commentator went into hyperdrive. _What card will it be? Maybe..._

"Activate! Trap Card, Return from the Different Dimension!"

"... Return from..." His eyes widened, this time in confusion and surprise as he saw his opponent light point go down to 550 as he paid the required price to special summon back on the field...

"X-Head Cannon, Y-Dragon Head and Z-Metal Tank!" The three mecha monsters reappeared on his side of the field in all their mechanical glory, before... "Combine! Form XYZ Dragon Cannon!" The three mechanical monsters hovered in the air one over the other, before they approached each other and in a flash of light, the three monsters disappeared to leave place to just one of them. Then he took another one of his cards and put it face down on his duel disk. "I place one card face down. I end my turn."

"... What was the sense of that move?" He voiced his confusion out loud, and his opponent just smiled back at him. _He diminished his life points and his XYZ Dragon Cannon can't fight my Jumbo Drill. It's not powerful enough._ His eyes slowly fell down to the set up card. _... It's that card then, the real danger... But of all the forbidden cards..._ He rapidly went through the list of forbidden trap cards. _... I can only think of two cards that could help him in a pinch, but they're both useless to him. At most he could end this with a draw if that was Ring of Destruction._ "... My turn, I draw."

"It will be over with my next turn." The black haired duelist said with a smirk, while he just sweated as he focused.

_He's bluffing... There's no other way. His number of cards in the deck is still the same, and he only has two left, and I know that he has no cards able to turn around this duel... He wants to end this in a draw._ He looked at the card he had just drawn. His last Polymerization. He didn't need it, though. _A draw... I guess it's fine. It is his retirement duel, after all._ "... It's been a fun duel, Manjoume. Too bad it's over. Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill! Attack!"

The monster obeyed, speeding up on its wheels till he reached terminal speed while his enormous nosedrill started spinning around wildly and then departed, planting himself into the chest of XYZ Dragon Cannon, sparks flying everywhere. "Hn!" The solid vision explosion raised dust and the loud noise made Manjoume flinch as always as his points dropped to 350, much to his opponent's confusion.

"... You didn't activate the trap card?" He said, confused. "Why didn't you activate the trap card?"

"... Heheheh, Sho. Look at you, all grown up and an undefeated pro-duelist... You had never battled me, though." Manjoume chuckled as he straightened himself and smirked. "You're always so susceptible." He raised his hand as the card did as well, raising itself up from the ground. "Trap Card! Ojama Trio!"

"O-Ojama Trio?" Sho flinched as three puff of smokes.

"Yellow!"

"Green!"

"Black!" Announced the entrance of the ugliest speedo wearing group of siblings the world of Duel Monsters had ever seen. "We are the Ojama Brothers!"

"... Turn end." Sho just couldn't wrap his head around what had just happened. Manjoume usually used that card in tandem with another that could let him destroy the tokens summoned that way, since they gave 300 points of damage to the opponent for each destroyed one, but he had already used all the cards in his deck that allowed him to do that, and his field was again wide open. "Your last trap card... That wasn't a forbidden card at all. If you could, why didn't you..."

"Put in potent ones? Really, Sho?" Manjoume put a hand to the two remaining cards from his deck and drew one, adding it to the one he had in hand. "Have you forgotten even the basics? Powerful cards do not a strong deck make..."

"It's about how well they work with other cards, I remember that." Manjoume nodded.

"Indeed. Mentioning forbidden cards was just a ruse to throw you off your game and not let you summon that last Steamroid in your hand ahead of time." Sho's eyes widened in shock while his dark haired opponent just smirked again. "And also, because Trap Cards can't be activated in the same turn you set them! And now...!"

"Yeah, do it aniki!"

"Defeat him!"

"Make him beg for his life!"

"I discard the other card in my hand to activate Lightning Vortex!"

"... Lightning Vortex?" The three Ojama stopped cheering when they saw the scary lightning bolt card appear in the middle of the field. "... Aniki..."

"Which destroys all monsters on your side of the field!"

"ANIKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

"Waaaah!" Sho covered his eyes as the three Ojama Trio and his own monster disappeared in a big explosion of light, only to fall on his knees right after. "... You... This card..."

"I added it, Sho." Manjoume just smiled as his opponent's life points rapidly descended to zero, because of the effect of the Ojama Tokens. "I usually build my deck just like that to fight my opponents, it's right... Which means that it's easy to just substitute a card or two to throw the strongest ones off their tracks."

"... The strongest ones, huh?" The crowd went wild along with the commentator, while Sho stared at the ground. His undefeated streak ended there, and yet he smiled. "... That was probably the biggest compliment that will ever come out of your mouth."

"Yeah. So don't push it." Manjoume walked across the field and offered his hand to his shorter opponent, helping him back to his feet. "So... Keep it up for me too in the pro world."

"... I was already doing it for aniki. Talk about pressure..."

"Ladies and gentleman! Our winner, and the retiring, undefeated duelist is... ALL TOGETHER! 1!" The commentator exploded.

"10!" One half of the crowd chorused.

"100!" The other half, right after.

"1000!" The whole stadium together. Manjoume laughed and raised his free hand to the sky. Sho laughed and mimicked him, joining everyone but the not about to be sleepy any more Patty since while she could have gotten used to the crowd's anymosity. "MANJOUME THUNDER!" That last shout was the loudest thing heard that evening in the Kaiba Dome.

-Breakline-

"So yeah... It went like that."

"Wooooooooooooow! Awesome! Awesome awesome awesome!" Rua got easily excited, it seemed, much to the chagrin of everyone in the classroom while they waited for the homeroom teacher. "When I get older, I'm gonna be a pro dueler just like that guy you don't remember the name of!"

"Rua, the teacher! Pipe down!" Tenpei admonished his friend while the whole class quieted down, hearing footsteps going down the hall. They stared at the opened door for a while, ready to greet the teacher, only to see someone else pass by the door, a male wearing a white shirt and black pants, holding a briefcase with his left hand. "... False alarm, I guess. But who was that guy? I don't recognize him..."

"Maybe he's a new teacher?" Ruka suggested, and Patty blinked.

"... He looked familiar, actually... Maybe I'm wrong, but..." She 'hmm'ed, annoyed. "Why can't I remember?"

-Breakline-

He slowly walked down the hall of the building, following the directions he had gotten from the other teacher to reach the principal's office. Suddenly, he stopped in front of a window which was clean enough and received the right light to send back a reflection of his image. He observed the black trousers, the polished shoes, the white shirt tucked safely inside, the red tie. "... No. Nonono. I'm not going like this."

Since it was his first day of work, he had decided that for once he could be more formal, but that just wouldn't be like him. "This is not me." He stretched the tie without removing it, till it just hanged from his neck, then he pulled the shirt out of his pants and opened the last and first button, exposing the first centimeters of his chest, and then pulled up the collar. He smirked. He didn't own a single shirt which collar wasn't big, and that was just him. He smirked as he admired his handiwork. "Now, this is Manjoume Jun... Manjoume Thund..." He stopped midway while raising his free arm to the sky to bring it to his chin. "... Maybe I've got to take a different nickname now that I'm a teacher... Maybe Manjoume Teacher? … Thunder Teacher?"

**New Thunder**

**Chapter 1: The new teacher in town**

"Really, Principal? A former pro duelist?"

"Indeed, miss Maria. He should be..." A knock on the door broke the principal's conversation. "Should be him... Come in!"

The door opened slowly, revealing a fairly young man with a mane of long black hair in a shape that defied logic and gravity walking into the room. "Mister principal."

"Ahh... The young Manjoume. Do come in." The slightly overweight man, purple suit that reminded Manjoume of another principal oh so much, stood up and approached him to shake his free hand with both of his own ones. "Manjoume Jun. It's a great pleasure to meet such a prodigy in person."

"You do me too much honour, principal. I'm just a teacher, now." He replied with a smile, though the female teacher noticed how it wasn't a normal smile. He was trying to be pleasant, but it still came out as his usual teasing one.

"Ahh, then let me introduce you to your senpai." The principal joked, releasing his hand to make him turn to the senior teacher. "This is miss Maria. She teaches the middle school children."

"Ah... It's a pleasure, Manjoume-san." The woman extended his hand and Manjoume was really pleased by the honorific. He guessed he could go back to that. He gently shook the offered hand.

"I think we're going to get along just fine, miss Maria." He said, smiling again before releasing the female teacher's hand.

"You're going to be her aide until after summer vacation." The principal crossed his arms behind his back as he continued, noticing Manjoume's raised eyebrow. "I have no doubts about your dueling prowess, but you have no teaching experience, right?"

"... True." He nodded, acknowledging that indeed, he wouldn't put an inexperienced person alone in an important position as that of a teacher. He returned his attention to the young woman. "Then, I look forward to your guidance, senpai."

"Ah... Y-Yes, of course." Manjoume should learn a wider array of facial motions, since using always that same smile, the teacher couldn't understand for her life if he was mocking her or flirting with her, while he just wanted to be respectful. It just left her confused.

"Good. Well, then, I guess you'd better go. Your class is waiting just for you for homeroom to start. Maria will brief you on the working hours on the way." The principal shook Manjoume's free hand once again. "And so, I officially welcome you to Neo Domino City's Duel Academia."

"Thanks, mister principal." Manjoume bowed slightly and then followed Maria out of the room as the elder man returned to his desk, turning around with his chair till he found himself looking outside the window at the sun illuminating the city.

"Hmm... I'm really curious to see if Samejima was right once again."

-Breakline-

"Here she comes!"

"Are we sure, this time? Tenpeeeei..." Rua commented, not really up to getting back on his feet for nothing.

"Yes, I'm sure! These are heels! Well, there are some other shoes too... The point is, everyone pipe down and get on your feet!" The class obeyed as one just as the teacher walked into the room, greeted by a collective 'good morning'. "Sit."

"Good morning and welcome back, children. I hope you had eventful vacations, because it's time to study hard." A loud groan was heard in the room, and Ruka sighed. "Before starting though, I wanted to introduce to you to someone. He's going to be a new teacher in the academy starting September." The class's attention though was then brought immediately to the new subject and to the person they had seen passing by the classroom a few minutes before. "For now, he's going to help me with your class. So, may I introduce you to..."

"Manjoume Jun." That was when he made his entrance, smiling smugly with his eyes closed as he walked inside the room under the surprised gazes of everyone in the classroom, including the teacher. Then, he dropped the briefcase on the floor and grabbed a piece of chalk, starting to scribble on the blackboard. In a few seconds, he had filled it with the ideograms used to write his name, he turned back to the classroom with eyes open, this time. "You will refer to me as Manjoume-san. It's nice to meet you a..."

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" Patty got on her feet and shouted, pointing her right arm and index finger right at Manjoume, much to everyone's shock. The subject of the outburst because of the suddenness of the gesture, the class and teacher because Patty was usually a quiet girl, during class. "I-It's him! It's really him!"

"Him who, Patty?" Ruka asked, trying to discern what was wrong with her friend.

"The Pro! The Pro Duelist who won the match I saw! The one who retired!"

"Ehhh?" The whole class turned as one man to Manjoume again, who recovered as soon as he heard the words 'pro duelist'.

"... Guilty as charged." He replied, chuckling right after. The class broke into whispers, including 'Wow! A pro duelist!', 'He retired so young? But why?', 'He looks so cool!', 'Is he really going to be our teacher?', and so on till miss Maria cleared her voice a bit loudly, making everyone shut up on the double.

"Yes. Manjoume-san is a former pro duelist but he will probably be teaching in a higher grade." Some of the students went 'Awww' at this. "Till summer break, though, he will be my aide in teaching you all. So, let's show him just where those students come from, shall we?" Various nods of just silence were everyone's reply to the question. The teacher smiled while Manjoume took a vacant chair and sat on it beside the teacher's desk. "Alright. We'll start with a small written test to check if you did study, this summer."

"AWWWW, NO!"

"Rua!"

-Breakline-

"Hmm... Cafeteria food."

"Huh? It's not to your liking, Manjoume-san?" Manjoume and Maria were currently having lunch with the other teachers and the students in the school's cafeteria. The principal preferred for the two categories to not have separate places to eat, as to help them bond.

"No, it's all good. It's just... Nostalgic, you know? I did graduate from the Duel Academia." Manjoume continued as he then scooped up some more curry sauce and rice and brought it to his mouth. "Hmm... Delicious. Do you have breadpan day here too?"

"We did. There was in incident, though, so we had to remove it." Maria laughed nervously right after, remembering how a kid had broken one arm in a silly fight over the last...

"Over the egg breadpan, right?" The teacher blinked, surprised that he had got that right. He rolled his eyes. "Go figure. We had the biggest fights over those as well. The others didn't taste that well."

"Ohhh! The Duel Academia? The one on the island?" Manjoume nodded. "Must have been cool living there! I bet you had some great dormitories!"

Manjoume actually snorted in an unrefined laughter at that. "As long as you weren't in Osiris Red. You see..." Then, he realized something. He wasn't talking to his senpai anymore. He slowly turned around in his seat and he sweatdropped as his gaze fell upon the four eager looking kids standing behind him. "... You are..."

"We're from miss Maria's class! I'm Rua, they're Bob, Patty and Tenpei! So? How was The Duel Academia? What about the dormitories?" The aquamarine boy identifed as Rua continued, much to Manjoume's annoyance. He was way too loud, just like a certain...

"Rua! Guys! Leave the teachers alone while they're eating!" His rage was suppressed when another girl who looked very much like the loud boy came to them and immediately pinched his right ear and pulled.

"Aaaah! Rukaaa! That hurts!" The boy moaned in pain, while who he guessed was his twin sister or something berated the lot of them.

"Serves you right! If you want to ask questions, ask them when people are not eating! And you three!" The other three friends flinched. Ruka didn't get angry very often, but when she did it meant big trouble. "You usually try to keep him in check! What happened today?"

"But Ruka... He's a Pro Duelist!" Bob whined, and the other two had similar miserable expressions. Manjoume groaned.

"Former pro duelist. I'm retired." He cut in and the thought about the situation. This was a situation that would happen time and time again as long as he kept on being a teacher. Handling students. "Say, I'll cut you a deal." The group of five kids all turned to him. "You let me eat in peace, you keep quiet about this and you try to keep the decibels in a zone that doesn't puncture eardrums..." He sent a glare in Rua's direction, who grinned weakly. "After class, I'll answer all the questions you want."

"Really? Th..." Patty and Ruka both slammed one hand over Rua's mouth, remembering what Manjoume had just said about volume.

"T-Thanks! Then, later, Manjoume-san!" With that, they dragged Rua away and the black haired teacher aide sighed.

"I knew this would happen sooner or later, but the very first day?" He returned to his meal under the amused gaze of Maria.

"You have to understand, Manjoume-san... They can't help but feel excited to have a pro dueler, former or not, around. Good thing they didn't remember that you're undefeated." The female teacher drank some water from the bottle that she got in front of her tray. "You're what most of them aspire to be, after all."

"... Heh. Someone who throws away his pro dueling career to follow his other ambitions?" Manjoume laughed grimly, confusing Maria with his affirmation. He shook his head and raised one hand in sign of apology. "I'm sorry. I said too much, pay it no mind."

-Breakline-

"... And that's how it went down." Manjoume had kept his promise and stayed after class ended with the five kids who had gotten that promise out of it. Four actually, but Ruka had stayed as well and seemed just as interested as her friends in his words. After a few questions about the academia, Rua had asked him to narrate one of his toughest duels.

He had decided to keep those to himself, mostly because they probably wouldn't have believed some of the stories and also because it was better to keep most of the dangers he had fought alongside Judai and the others a secret, so he told them about a duel he had had against a very old pro duelist in his own retirement match.

"Wow! You're so strong, Manjoume-san!" Rua had respected the volume rule at least in part, it seemed.

"That's a given. Now, though, it's got pretty late." Manjoume turned his head to the class's clock, noticing that it was four PM. He stood up from his chair and 'shoo'ed the students away with his hands. "Come on, back home! Before they arrest me for kidnapping! Scram!"

"Alright! See you tomorrow, Manjoume-san!" Patty was the first to excuse herself, and she was quickly mimicked by Bob and by Tenpei who shouted something about missing his favourite show, leaving just a grinning Rua and a sighing Ruka in the room.

"... Didn't you hear me?"

"It's fine! Our parents aren't at home! We can continue!" Manjoume slapped his forehead. Ruka narrowed her eyes and grabbed his right ear again. "Ahhh! Rukaaaaa!"

"Rua, you still have to study. I don't think today's test went particularly well, if you wrote down that Kuriboh is a light attribute monster." The black haired former pro sweatdropped as the female twin dragged away her complaining brother. She suddenly stopped on the door and turned to him smiling. "See you tomorrow, Manjoume-san. Thanks for the stories."

"Hmm... As long as you keep in check your brother and you call me Manjoume-san, you're welcome... Ruka, right?" She nodded and then bowed before dragging away Rua, still holding him by his right ear, much to his chagrin. Manjoume shook his head and laughed, before sighing loudly. "What a first day. Still, I thought it would be worse." He turned around and picked up his briefcase. "I should go back home too."

-Breakline-

After a few minutes of walking, Manjoume reached the building which housed his apartment. When he had started planning his moving, he had passed on a lot of more luxurious ones for the simple fact that this one was near the school and was as such also well connected. If there was one thing that being in Osiris red all that time had been good for was to learn to adapt one self. He found the key and opened the door. "I'm home."

"Aniki, welcome back!" That, and how to adapt the surroundings to oneself. He did restructure a whole half of the Osiris red dormitory into his own flat, and he had done this too. He had bought that apartment and the next one, tore down a wall and made them one.

"Manjoume-sama!" The spirits of the cards saluted him as he put the briefcase down and started slipping out his shoes. One apartment he had turned into a living room connected to a kitchen, the other half, still separated by the wall and a door, was split in half with a bathroom containing a large jacuzzi, and a large room where he kept his bed and all his cards. He hit the jackpot when he had joined the two balconies.

"I'm back... Whoah!" Manjoume's eyes widened and then he frowned as one of the spirits had just tried to tackle him, as usual, and it was always the same. "Spirit of the breeze, what did I tell you about trying to tackle-hug me?"

"That you'd like that very much?" Replied the green skinned sprite.

"NO! THAT IT ISN'T POSSIBLE BECAUSE YOU'RE A SPIRIT AND THAT IF YOU EVER MANAGED TO GET CORPOREAL TO DO IT, I WOULDN'T LIKE IT!" The sprite giggled and then floated till she mock-hugged him around his neck, since she couldn't really do that. His forehead twitched as he observed that his apartment was full of spirits. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ALL DOING OUT?"

"Aniki, don't be mad! We wanted to wait for you!"

"Giving you a warm welcome back after your first day of work!"

"We even wanted to cook you something, but... We're incorporeal!" The three Ojama laughed, and were joined in by all the other spirits of the cards that he had found that dreaded day in that well.

"Ahhh, boss! Welcome back!" That, and the Dark Scorpion spirits, and many others, as Don Zaloog's appearance always reminded him. He didn't understand why, but it seemed that while Judai only talked with his spirits during a battle, with the exception of Winged Kuriboh, he had managed to pick up lots of cards which spirits could come out and disturb him at will. "Me and the others of the gang have made a recognition around! There's this nice place you should really check out!"

"Thanks, Don... NOW WILL YOU ALL SHUT UP AND GO BACK INTO YOUR DAMN CARDS?"

-Breakline-

"Stupid cards, stupid spirits, stupid me..." Manjoume growled as he turned off the hot water knob and removed his bathrobe, slowly stepping inside the jacuzzi and relaxing somewhat as he felt the small bubbles obtained because of the water's temperature tickling his skin. _Also, what's the deal with them just up and leaving?_

As much as he knew, Jaden's spirits couldn't just up and leave his immediate surroundings, apart the ones which didn't reside in his cards like his neo-spacian monsters and Neos, but his monsters seemed to be able to leave the cards and wander further and further. The distance seemed to increase by the day, and that unnerved him because he didn't find any possible explanation in the cards' nature, apart maybe Don Zaloog and his gang. He had been one of the Seven Dark Stars, but all the others? So, that only left... "... It must be me, right?"

He knew that seeing the spirits of the cards wasn't something that anyone could do. He was special. That had brought him more annoyance than anything else in his life, or at least that was what he would admit to anyone. Still, he could wrap his head around them just being seen by him, but this was something... He found a yellow butt wrapped in a speedo in his field of view. "... What do you want?"

"Anikiii... We were wondering... Now, guys!" His eyes almost threatened to explode from the bulging when all the spirits appeared again, inside his bathroom and chorused... "CAN YOU PLEASE BRING US TO SCHOOL WITH YOU? PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE..."

"AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" He threw his hands to the sides of his head, his poor eardrums feeling all the pain possible. "STOP THIS, YOU LITTLE...! ARGH! FINE! BUT YOU HAVE TO STAY SILENT! STARTING NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!"

"Thanks, Aniki!" And just as they had appeared, the disappeared, along with the voices. Manjoume waited a few more seconds to be sure before removing his hands from his ears and the slowly slumping under the water's surface.

"... Well, at least they're obedient, barring these kind of incidents." Otherwise, it would have been like being haunted.

-Breakline-

"Ahhh! The first day of school was awesome!" Rua shouted as he helped Ruka set down the table. A table for two, as always, their parents not being around most of the year, always travelling and leaving them to tend to themselves for the most part. "We met a real pro duelist! Isn't that just the coolest thing ever?"

"Former pro duelist... And did you forget already about the test, Rua?" Ruka set the last plate and Rua just grinned at her.

"I will do better at practice! So I will impress Manjoume-san and maybe he can take me as an apprentice!" Ruka sighed, shaking her head from side to side. She doubted that teachers, even aides, could show favouritisms to students, but also she doubted Rua could really impress a pro duelist. She loved her brother, really, but he didn't take dueling, at least the academic version of it, very seriously. "So, what did you think of him?"

"Manjoume-san? Hmm..." Ruka started thinking about the black haired aide and how he had acted during the day. Most of the time during class he had just stayed silent, observing what the teacher and the other students did, almost studying something himself. Every now and then, she noticed that he would smirk or smile to himself, like he found something really funny, something that was only occurring to him.

She had noticed during lunch how he seemed to have little patience for loud people or people who did insensate things, but he was quick to forgive when she showed that she was in control and could keep the others' attitudes down. He appreciated that, it seemed. He was probably competent in dueling if he really was an undefeated pro and had graduated as the top duelist of his graduating year at the Duel Academy.

"He seemed okay." She couldn't really say anything else about him, with those few pieces of information that she had.

"Just okay? I think he's awesome!" Rua replied, quick to get excited, especially over these kind of things. Then, he pouted. "Too bad he's going to teach another year..."

"That's what miss Maria said... But she could be wrong." Ruka replied, remembering what their teacher had told them, and her brother perked up at that. "If I remember correctly, the teachers have a say in what grade they want to teach... So..."

"So, if we make a good impression on him, he could decide that he likes our grade better and stay as our teacher? Woooohoooo!" Rua cheered, and Ruka smiled even if a bit uneasily. It wasn't that easy, since miss Maria was their teacher, but she guessed that she could use the fact to make Rua study a bit harder.

-Breakline-

"Hmm, memo to self. Gotta buy a different coat." He had noticed the previous days evening that even if it was April, afternoons and evenings tended to get a bit chilly, and the only coat in his wardrobe was his usual one that he had wore for years and hardly washed during his schooling days, and he couldn't wear it. Not because of the filth, but because it made him easily recognizable. "I guess I will have to bear it today again."

"Anikiii... You feel so different without your black coat..." Manjoume grunted and closed the wardrobe before walking out of his apartment, Ojama Yellow right behind him, since as promised, he was bringing his 'talking' deck at work with him. It had taken two more days and a repetition of the bathroom incident to make him declare just which day he would be taking them to school with him.

"Tell me about it. I hate this white shirt, but it's the only one I had..." He grunted. "What did I tell you about talking?"

"But we're not at school yet, Aniki." His forehead twitched.

"So what? There are still people on the road! Remember, they can't see you, so what they see when we talk it's just me talking to myse..." And right on the money, he ran into the complex's landlady, an old woman who was indeed looking at him like he had grown a second head. "... Good morning." He smiled forcefully and then high-tailed it out of there, grumbling under his breath. "Memo to self: tomorrow afternoon, it's shopping spree time. Memo to you: shut. Up. In public."

-Breakline-

"Now, it's Rua against Tenpei."

"Alright! Manjoume-san! Manjoume-san! Watch me!"

"Rua... Your duel disk." Ruka handed her brother his school duel disk while he embarrassed himself even further since Manjoume was ignoring him, instead focusing his attention on a teaching guidebook the principal had given him. Each now and then though, she noticed one of his eyebrows twitching, like there was something ticking him off.

It had been four days since Manjoume had become miss Maria's aide, and up to that point he had done nothing but observe, learn. She guessed that he would take a more active role starting from the next week, probably by supervising their dueling practice. They would see just what kind of teacher he was from...

"Aniki! Anikiii!" Her line of thoughts got interrupted when suddenly, something small, yellow and ugly floated through a wall and past her right shoulder. She gasped as she recognized it. A duel monster spirit. It wasn't any card she had seen before, but the ethereal appearance and its shape left no room for doubt. She hadn't seen one but her Kuribbon in years. Maybe she... Then, she noticed that it wasn't talking to her. "Anikii, this school is awesome!"

The yellow monster had flew over to Manjoume's side, the black haired aide keeping his attention on the book. She was confused by the gesture, then she noticed that he was frowning. "There are so many kids, and cards, and teachers! Do you remember your teachers, aniki? And the food smelt so good!" Again, Manjoume kept his attention on the book, but Ruka was observant enough to notice an increase in the pressure he was putting in holding the book with his hands. "And then... Ah, right. No talking in public! Sorry, Aniki... Pipe down, you other guys!"

The monster then suddenly disappeared, diving inside of Manjoume's briefcase, and Ruka noticed how the former pro visibly relaxed. Her mouth opened in surprise and then realization. He hadn't reacted at all to the monster, but she could see that all his body said 'annoyance' for a few seconds, and since Rua was focusing on his match, probably because he was winning, that only left one source of said annoyance.

She brought a clenched hand to her chest, lowering her gaze. It couldn't be. Ever since she woke up from the coma, she had never met someone else able to see monster spirits. Sometimes she had even thought she was just imagining things, she had been a small child after all, and that lingering doubt still surfaced every now and then. The only people who she had told about what had happened during that month long coma had been her parents and Rua, and only her brother believed her, her parents deeming it just her imagination or a leftover of the shock of going into a coma.

Since there had never been someone who documented a case similar to her own, she had no possible way to know if she really was able to talk with spirits or if she was just imagining things all the time. Now, maybe, though... If he was...

"Ahhh!"

"Yatta! I won!" It seemed like the duel ended, in Rua's favour. The boy grinned and turned around to watch Manjoume. "Did you see, Manjoume-san? I won! I won!"

Manjoume interrupted his reading and closed the book, since the end of Rua's duel also signalled the end of lessons for the day. "So I see. Good job." Even if it was probably just a circumstance compliment, it still had the effect of making Rua positively beaming at the praise.

"Alright, students. Good job, everyone." The students turned in miss Maria's direction as she talked to them. "Today's lessons are over, but don't forget to be on time tomorrow morning."

"Yeah! Hanami!" One student cheered, and Manjoume raised an eyebrow. He had almost forgotten about that. The class and the two of them would be going to Neo Domino City's park to watch the sakura in bloom. He hadn't done that in years, ever since he had joined the Duel Academia. There weren't sakura on the island.

_Good. That means that I will have more time for shopping, tomorrow. No afternoon classes._ Manjoume nodded to himself for a good plan and then started making a mental note of stopping by a shop to buy something to turn into food to bring along.

"Remember. We meet each other here at school at 8. Bring your lunch." The class chorused a 'Haaaaaai' of reply before the teacher dismissed everyone and Manjoume started putting his book away in his briefcase. Ruka stared at him for a few seconds before swallowing and starting to walk to him. "Manjoume-san, a word if I may."

Only to spin on one heel and march back with the other students out of the room as miss Maria beat her to the punch, a blush on her face because she felt silly. _T-Tomorrow, at the hanami. I'll talk to him tomorrow._

"Yes, senpai? What is it?" Manjoume replied after closing the briefcase and throwing it over his left shoulder, holding it with one hand.

"I understand that you'd want to acquaintance yourself with the rules as soon as possible..." She was referring to him reading the guide book in the middle of the practice session. "But I'd prefer if you focused your attention on the kids, during practice. Pointing out their mistakes and helping them overcome them is going to be your job."

"Hmm... Yeah, I guess they do need the help, especially that green haired kid." Manjoume moved his eyes upwards, in thought. "He has a nice machine type deck, but he seems able to only use those kind of monsters. And even when he uses it... I would have saved that Limiter Removal for a later turn. In the end, he didn't need it to win against the kid with glasses."

Maria's eyes widened as well as her mouth opened, in disbelief. Manjoume returned his eyes to normal height and smirked. He gently leaned a hand on Maria's left shoulder and patted it. "Thanks for the advice, senpai. See you tomorrow." He smiled and then walked away after the kids, waving at the shocked teacher with his right hand. The eldest educator blushed, narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms under her chest.

"... He seems like a good person, but I'd prefer that he wasn't that smug. Way to make me feel like an idiot." She commented under her breath, not noticing the gaze of the principal from one of the gym's tribunes. The man chuckled to himself at Maria's expenses.

-Breakline-

"You seemed caught in the opponent's trap in the beginning, but you managed to stay two, maybe three moves ahead nonetheless, right?"

"Damn, that's arrogant."

"He snatched the mic out of the commentator's hand? Talk about rude."

"That's Jack for you." In the meanwhile, somewhere else, on an island that most people in Neo Domino City preferred to not even nominate, three people were watching the outcome of yet another challenge to the city's 'King', Jack Atlas.

"If the King went all out right off the start, things would be over in a second! The King's dueling must be entertainment for all!"

"Hmm... Though...!" The noise of an engine getting started prompted the three spectators to turn around, witnessing that someone had entered the abandoned metro tunnel, someone riding a red D-Wheel, with piercing blue eyes and black hair streaked with gold locks. "Y-Yo, Yusei!"

The 'largest' of the three immediately turned off the screen and put a hand behind his head, smiling apologetically at Yusei. "Sorry 'bout that. Jack's been bugging us after all. And this is the only place the TV'll get reception."

"He sure was something." Commented the talles one, and also the one wearing glasses of the trio. "He's getting even stronger." Yusei connected a nearby laptop with his D-Wheel, running diagnostics on it.

"Was he facing a wimp?" He asked as he multitasked, talking with them while working on his ride.

"Yeah." The third and last member of the trio nodded. "Jack completely toyed around with him."

"... He must be pretty bored." The black haired rider said, knowing fully well that Jack couldn't be kept satisfied for long fighting people that below his level.

"... So, how's your D-Wheel holding up?"

"Don't go there." The bandanna-wearing person stopped his larger friend. "You can tell just by looking, can't you?"

"Yeah, true." Yusei had been working on it, building it from scrap for two years, but it still wasn't up to the task he intended to use it for. "Wonder what's up with Jack's D-Wheel from befor-"

"GET A CLUE, ALREADY!" This time the guy wearing the bandanna slapped his friend on his head. That was an even more sensitive subject.

"Ow..." He retaliated, swatted the hand away and turned around in the chair, narrowing his eyes. "But we're all mad at Jack! You know how he left and what he did in the process!" His outburst seemed to affect his two friends, if their angry eyes were any indication. "To top it off, that damn Jack even took the D-Wheel that Yusei had managed to build!"

Yusei ignored his friends and kept on working on his D-Wheel, until in a few seconds footsteps could be heard echoing from up the nearby stairs. "Yusei!" His name being called earned a reaction out of Yusei as he turned to his right to see a young boy wearing a yellow cap over long curly wavy red hair approching them.

"Yo, Rally!" The trio saluted the youngest member of their little friend circle.

"Ah, you guys are here too? Yusei!" Rally gave them the briefest of attention before turning to Yusei again. The rush of the young boy made the three curious. He stopped in front of Yusei and dove for one of the pockets of his long robe. "You can use this for your D-Wheel, don't you?"

Rally presented him a computer chip. He recognized it as a very high quality chip used for the D-Wheels system coordination. A CPU of sorts. "Hey, what's that?"

The guys observed it for a few seconds more before the guy wearing the bandanna understood something. "Hey, this is brand new, isn't it? Where'd you get this?"

He grabbed Rally's wrist to better observe it, and the boy flinched, twisting his arm away from the grip. "N-No, you got it wrong! I found this in some junk." He held the chip closer to his body and turned his gaze away. The trio looked at each other, knowing better than to believe that.

"You haven't been stealing again, have you?" Rally didn't reply to that.

"If that turns out stolen, we all could get caught!" The largest member of the group berated him while the one wearing glasses knelt beside Rally.

"I'd hate if they put this thing on us..." Saying that, he used his left index finger to make circles around the small golden triangle on Rally's skin, right under his eye. It was a warning of sorts, a mark that signified that the one wearing it had committed a crime. One for each arrest.

"Lay off." Yusei finally talked, getting back on his feet and approaching Rally, holding out his right hand. The young boy observed him dazed for a few seconds before handing him the chip. The black haired D-Wheeler picked up the chip with his left index and middle finger, observing it. "I'll use it." He declared, before sitting down on a chair to install it in his D-Wheel.

"... Are you sure, Yusei?"

"I bet it's gonna be fast! No, I guarantee it!" Rally and Yusei had pretty much toned out their friends as the latter installed the chip.

"... You know Yusei, I can understand where you're coming from, but you should give this Jack business a rest." The one wearing glasses commented, not feeling comfortable in his friend using stolen goods.

"Yusei is gonna go settle the scores with Jack!" Rally retorted, not really affecting the taller man.

"Well, like I said, it's not the sort of thing I'd be bending backwards over thin ice for."

"But Jack even stole Yusei's ace monster!" The man ignored the raging Rally and pushed him out of the way.

"Yusei, are you really going to leave Satellite?" He asked.

"... I'm not leaving. I'm going." The question finally got a reaction out of Yusei as he mechanically continued to work on his D-Wheel's programming, tapping away at the laptop's keyboard.

"Just give it up. You know he doesn't belong with us." The member wearing a bandanna said, shrugging his head to the side right after. "Jack's been different from us from the very start."

Yusei finished the data input and then stood up, gripping the D-Wheel's controls, giving it gas. The thundering roar of the engine promptly shut up everyone in the surroundings, proving that Rally had really hit the jackpot with the chip. "How is it? It's nothing like before, is it?" Rally asked excited, and Yusei nodded. Smiling, he picked up Yusei's helmet off the ground and handed it to him. "Let's take it for a spin! It'll go superfast!"

Suddenly though, the darkness of the tunnel was broke by the sudden appearances of long cone of lights. "What the...!" The tall guy wearing glasses walked forward and looked upward, recognizing the shape of an helicopter. "It's Security!"

"Verification number AWX-86007, Rally Dawson, you're suspected of larceny! Surrender yourself immediately!" A loud voice coming out of some kind of speaker declared. It seemed like indeed, Rally didn't obtain that chip the honest way. "Come out! As long as that marker is on you, you won't be able to escape!"

"Why, you...!"

"I'm sorry!" Rally raised the helmet between him and a menacing raised fist, aimed at his head. "I really did take it from the manufacturing plant... But only because I wanted Yusei to beat Jack!"

"Yeah, but even so...!" Yusei stopped the berating member of their group, who just got angry at him as well.

"That's enough."

"You're to blame for this too!"

"We can't get out of here with that marker on 'im!" The largest guy said, as Rally nervously fingered the golden marker. "It's sending a signal that's linked up to Security!" Yusei tapped something else on the laptop before disconnecting it from his D-Wheel, and sitting on it.

"The marker's signal is disrupted." Yusei declared, holding out his left hand so that Rally could hand him his helmet.

"You mean you jammed it?"

"You guys should move it." Yusei declared, putting his helmet on and lowering the visor. "I'll draw Security away." It seemed like the ideal occasion to test out the newly upgraded D-Wheel.

-Breakline-

"Hmm... Damn, what should I do?" While in Satellite a group of friends were currently facing the dilemma of escaping from justice, back in Neo Domino City, Manjoume Jun, the Black Thunder, the undefeated duelist, was facing another predicament. "All these brands..."

"Anikii, just choose one already!" Alias what kind of sandwich to buy. He had never learned to cook that well, even now that he lived in the city he mostly ate out if not for breakfast, he could pour milk in a glass, but the following morning he would have to bring something to eat, and he had realized just on the way to the convenience store that he didn't know what to buy. He had never been to a convenience store.

He had been rich and served everything when he was little, Osiris or Obelisk the academy was pretty much the same, having a cafeteria and everything, but now he was faced with the orrifying and numerous names of various kinds of brands of food. "... I'm feeling dizzy." He slowly fell on his knees to the ground.

"Aniki!"

"Aniki defeated by food?"

"This can't beeee!"

"Ehm... Excuse me... Is something wrong?" Manjoume fought against the dizziness spell and slowly raised his head up, finding himself looking at the concerned face of a member of the other sex. A black sweater and long black trousers hugged a figure whose most noticeable characteristics were her big, dark amber eyes and her blue hair.

"... Everything's wrong. Damn me and my sheltered life." He sat cross-legged on the ground, the basked on his left.

"... You don't know what to buy?" The woman discerned from the words he had pronounced a few moments before. He shook his head.

"Nope. I don't know a single one of these brands, now what's into them. Ahh, why the hell didn't I do a course or something before moving..." The woman stared at him in disbelief before slowly picking up a boxed sandwich and kneeling on the floor in front of him.

"You see, usually..." She gently moved the box in front of his face, and Manjoume found his eyes drawn to the sticker on the side of the box, a voice in particular that preceded a list. Ingredients. "What's inside it's written somewhere on the box or the wrapping."

"... Oh." Manjoume grabbed the sandwich and went through the ingredients for a few more minutes. He raised his head and looked at the now similarly standing up woman. "Thank you."

She chuckled at his expenses, and he had the decency to blush. "You're welcome." That said she bowed and walked away, still holding her own basket in her hands as Manjoume watched her go.

"... So gentle. She was quite pretty too..." He commented, blushing as he turned to the side. Then he smiled, recovering... For a few seconds before his eyes became hearts. "Not as much as my Asuryn, though!"

"Oh, god, Aniki, not again..."

-Breakline-

"Everyone's here, then?"

"Ehm... Actually, we're missing Manjoume-san, miss Maria." As the teacher had recommended, all the students had been punctual. All the students, that is. A certain aide was still missing, as Bob had made Maria notice.

"... I guess he was ill or..."

"Sorry I'm late." Everyone turned in the direction of Manjoume, who was carrying a sack over his right shoulder, and was sporting a bit of sweat going down his forehead. Sign that he had been running to get there on time. "I forgot to pick up something while getting out."

"You forgot to buy something to drink yesterday evening, aniki." Ojama Yellow's head pocked out from behind Manjoume's shoulder, who swatted him away like he would do a fly.

"So, shall we?"

-Breakline-

"Ahh, it's so pretty!" After a few minutes of walking which Manjoume used mostly to observe his surroundings, they had arrived to the Neo Domino City park. It had been one of the first areas to be rebuilt and cared for after the incident that almost destroyed it. The last area to be touched had been the 'historically relevant' one, alias the area connected to the life of the Duel King, which had curiously escaped destruction, but in the end it was touched as well.

Manjoume didn't know, but he and the others, during that second year trip, had been one of the last people to see the original shape of that part of the city, while everything else was being restructured already. Returning to the park, they had done a fine job with it, especially when it came to the cherry trees. One quarter of the park was full of it, having been projected and built so that it could contain thousands of people at a time.

Other sakura had been planted more in isolation in the rest of the park, and those were spots that people could reserve. It was the case with the school, and they had booked for the morning the biggest tree in the park. The children were playing, some dueling on the grass, all under the watchful eyes of the teacher and her aide... Well, probably just the teacher, since Manjoume was napping away under the cherry tree, enjoying the shade broke here and there by the sun and the noise that the branches made when the wind moved them. He was in his little slice of paradise.

"Hmm... Aniki..." And just like that, it was over. He grunted and tried to ignore the fastidious yellow spirit. "Aniki, sorry... But I mean, there's this girl that's been staring at you the whole time..." That got his attention. He slowly raised one eyelid to look at him.

"What are you talking about?" He whispered and Ojama Yellow turned around and pointed a small finger in a direction.

"That girl over there, aniki. The one with the green hair." He opened both eyes, hearing that particular. The only girl with green hair in the class was Ruka. She was sitting on the grass a few meters in front of me along with Patty and a couple other female students, and she seemed nervous, being silent and staring at the ground while her friends chatted.

Then, she turned around in his direction. As soon as she realized that he was staring as well, she turned back to staring at the ground in front of her knees, blushing profusely, probably out of embarrassment at having been caught. "She has been doing this for a while now. I think she wants to talk to you but she's shy... Or scared. Aniki can be scary sometimes."

"... Is that so." Manjoume said, closing his eyes again.

"Huh? Aniki! You're not going to do anything about it? Aniki!" Manjoume ignored his spirit again. Even if he knew that she wanted to talk to him, it wasn't like he could just come out of the blue and say 'hey, an annoying ugly yellow monster told me you wanted to talk'. Also, if she was that embarrassed, it was probably because they weren't alone and she wanted to talk about something private, even if he couldn't for the life of him guess what it was.

"Oh. I forgot to bring some water." 'Chance', thought Manjoume as he heard that miss Maria had the same predicament he had been into that morning. "I should have bought some on the shop out of the park... What now?" He immediately got back on his feet and opened his sack.

"Allow me to go buy you some, senpai. In the meanwhile..." The woman turned in his direction only for a bottle of water to be shoved in her face. "Help yourself to some of mine."

"Huh... Thanks, Manjoume-san. But are you sure you remember the way? You're new to this place right? The park is big." He grinned inwardly. Playing right into his hands.

"Indeed. I guess I'll just some student to accompany me... Ruka-san!"

"Ahhh!" Hearing her name called out so loudly and so suddenly scared the green haired girl, who jumped on the spot before standing and turning into his direction. "Y-Yes?"

"Would you be so gentle to accompany me to buy some water for miss Maria? I think I may get lost." He said, and Ruka stared at him for a few seconds, surprised, before nodding her head and walking to his side. "Good girl. We'll be back in a few minutes, senpai."

"Hey! Can I..."

"Sit, boy." Rua whined as Manjoume made him pipe down and focus back on the duel he was having with Bob.

-Breakline-

"Thanks. Come again."

"Yeah." Bought the bottle water, the duo of aide and student were now walking again back to the park. Passed the gate, they were again surrounded by trees and grass. "Nice place... Well, not as big as the forest we had back on the Duel Academy island."

"Ah..." Much to his annoyance though, Ojama Yellow had been right. Ruka was really nervous and he noticed how each now and then she would try to talk to him, but to no avail. He had tried initiating conversation with her, then, but she had always replied in monosyllables.

_Alright. This is getting ridiculous._ Manjoume started looking around and noticed that they had hit a corner in the road where they were well hidden from other onlookers. "... Ruka-san."

"Yes... Ah!" He suddenly grabbed her by the shoulders and jumped behind nearby bushes, still holding her with both hands. The startled girl moved around in his grasp but he soon sat her on the ground in front of him, before he sat as well, cross-legged. Her initial reaction was to just stare at him warily.

"... So, shoot."

"E-Eh?" Then, came surprise. He just crossed his arms in front of his chest and stared.

"You've been trying to find the nerve to talk to me the whole morning. Now they can't see nor hear us. So, start talking." He explained and while she was still surprised she relaxed.

_He noticed, then. And he asked for me to accompany him so that we could talk alone._ She lowered her head and smiled weakly at the concern showed and the attention, but the she swallowed, nervous again. After all, other than the fact that she didn't want to talk about it in public, there was the matter of the subject itself. "... Huh... Manjoume-san... I was wondering if..."

"You were wondering if?" She flinched at his voice. Pressing her on wasn't doing miracles for her confidence or nervousness.

"I... You..." She clenched her fists in her lap. "By any chance... Are you able to see duel monsters spirits too?"

It was Manjoume's turn to be surprised. He had no idea what she wanted to talk about, but of all the subject, he really wasn't expecting that one. Then, he noticed that right after asking that question, Ruka had started shaking, in fear and nervousness. "... Too?"

"I... I am..." Her voice was shaking too, he noticed. "Ever since... An incident, I have been able to see Duel Monsters spirits." She admitted, and Manjoume understood that it was costing her a lot to open up about that matter. "But I never met anyone else that could do that, and Rua is the only one who believes me. Everyone else I told this to thought I was imagining things... Or that..."

"Your parents too?" He didn't let her finish the sentence. She just nodded slowly.

"Yesterday I... I saw a small yellow spirit talking to you. You didn't reply, but I saw you... Getting tense, annoyed... You were reacting. He called you 'aniki'..." She continued, and the black haired duelist just kept on listening to her. "So, I thought that maybe... Maybe you..."

"... Oi, idiot." He suddenly said, startling the already upset Ruka, who probably believed he was talking to her. "Get out." Then, she got confused.

"Yeah, aniki?" Ojama Yellow suddenly got out of the deck pack strapped to his belt, and Ruka finally raised her head up. The spirit's eyes suddenly turned to her. "Ahh, the girl! So you're talking to her, aniki!"

"... Don't know about you, but the thought that I was crazy never crossed my mind from the moment this started happening." Manjoume said with a sigh, holding the bridge of his nose as he shook his head, eyes closed in thought. He then used the same hand to point at Ojama Yellow with his thumb. "Because if that was true, it would mean that I'm doing this to myself, so I would be both crazy and a masoc...!"

Manjoume's eyes opened wide as the air got knocked out of his lungs, since something had just hit his chest and was currently latching around his body. "W-What the...?" He moved his gaze down to find that Ruka had thrown herself at him and was hugging him, much to his flushing. "L-Let go, you..."

"Huuu... Aniki..." Manjoume was about to lash at his spirit when he felt his shirt starting to get wet around the spot were Ruka had buried her face into his body, and then it hit him. She was crying, and he felt a sting of pain in his chest. Welcome, guilt. "Yeah. That."

_Oh, god. This isn't fair! How am I supposed to get angry at her for invading my personal space when she's crying?_ "W-What am I supposed to do?" He whispered to Ojama Yellow, the terrible feeling of having someone crying while hugging him and his personal space invaded like never before making him ballistic, in a bad way.

"Huu... I don't know..." Ojama Yellow was pulling on his eyes, perturbed as well. Then, the proverbial light-bulb appeared over his head. "Ah! Aniki, I know! Do what your daddy did to you when you were crying when you were little!"

"... My father?" He went back with his memories to the times he hurt himself or got sad, anything that made him cry. He sweatdropped. "Really bad example, idiot." His father usually just shouted at him to man up and grow up already. When he was four, which caused him to just cry harder. _Why did I always go to him first? Probably because then mom would hold me longer._

He wisely decided to ignore his father and focus on his mother. He swallowed and slowly put one hand in the middle of her upper back, holding it there while he put the other on the back of her head, starting to caress her scalp and run his fingers through his hair, embarrassed all the while. Ruka felt stiff at first, but she relaxed, almost mellowed as he kept on caressing her. He flushed again. "... Stupid kid."

-Breakline-

"Better, now?" They had to make another stop once Ruka had calmed down, by a nearby fountain since they couldn't just bring back Ruka with her face matted with tears. She had washed her face and had now just dried it using a tissue Manjoume had given her.

"Yes. Thanks." She nodded before throwing the used tissue in a nearby trash-can, before turning back to Manjoume.

"... You're all smiles now, aren't you?" He said with a small frown, but Ruka just kept on smiling.

"Yes... I mean, I'm happy... And I've always had so many questions, and doubts..." Manjoume sighed.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but I don't know that much about it." Even so, Ruka's good mood didn't recede. He turned around and placed one hand behind his head, ruffling his hair. "Still, I guess we can... Talk about it."

"Thanks. Now... What do we tell the teacher?" Ruka asked as they began to walk back towards their section of the park. Manjoume groaned. He had almost forgot that particular. They had been gone for more than forty minutes.

"... I got both of us lost, I guess." He sighed, his shoulders slumping. "Before you ask, today I have something to do."

"Ah. It's alright." She replied, almost instantly, and Manjoume scored a small victory. "So... Maybe tomorrow? You could come to lunch."

"... I guess." He already felt an incoming migraine. He would be stuck between the hyperactive boy who went gaga over him being an ex-pro and the girl who he had seen cry and felt horrible at just the thought of being the cause of that happening again. _A week. I've been here seven damn days, and I'm already knee deep into something that's outside my intents. Just my luck... I just wanted to be a teacher!_

-Breakline-

"... Ok. What the hell happened between you and Manjoume-san, Ruka?"

"Huh?" Ruka stopped eating her bento when Patty said those words. She just smiled. "What do you mean, Patty?"

"Don't play dumb with me! This morning you were all nervous and scared and you were staring at him every now and then, now you're all smiles!" Ruka was surprised for one second, she wasn't aware that someone had noticed, but she went back to smiling right after.

"We just talked about something that was bothering me. That's what you're supposed to go to teachers for, right?" The green haired girl's words, though, only made her friend more curious.

"Then what did you talk about? I've seldom seen you so upset..." Everyone turned to her with a raised eyebrow. Patty laughed sheepishly. "I heard it in a soap opera."

"Sorry. I can't tell you that... It's personal." It was Patty's turn to be surprised and raise an eyebrow.

"It's personal but you can talk about it with a teacher aide but not tell your friends?" Ruka flinched at that.

"I'm sorry... It's just... It's something I could only talk about with him." The green haired girl replied. Patty 'Hmm'-ed and decided to let the matter go for the day. She slowly turned her head in Manjoume's direction, observing how he munched away at his sandwich while reading with attention something on the wrapping.

-Breakline-

"Ohh! Aniki, this place is so big!"

"Ah, right. I never brought you with me to a mall, did I?" Manjoume replied instinctively to Ojama Yellow as the glass doors opened in front of him, revealing a bustling conglomerate of floors, shops and people that was called a mall, even if it was still relatively quiet since it was just right after lunchtime. The real chaos would come in couple more hours. _Plenty of time to buy me some new clothes._ "Hey, guys. Why don't you take a look around while I shop?"

"Heh? For real?"

"Ahahahahah!" If anyone else but Manjoume had been able to see cards spirits, they would have seen a real show. A torrent of differently coloured and shaped spirits erupting from Manjoume's back and rotating all around in a tornado of colours before they scattered in every direction. "Thanks, anikiiii!"

"... And the nuisances are gone." Manjoume sighed before looking around and... "... Not again." Realizing that again, he had no idea what to do. He cursed under his breath. While he had shopped for clothes before, not trusting anyone but himself to understand his taste in clothing and knew how to choose and everything, there was a reason why he always had someone accompany him, usually his manager: he didn't know the way to the shop, he never bothered to learn it, and this was a completely new city and mall, making the matter even worse. "... Just fantastic. Great. I'm such an idiot. I could have used the Ojama brothers and the others to find the way, but nooo, I had to..."

"Don't tell me. You don't know what shop to choose." His musings were broken by a familiar voice that he felt was referring to him. He turned around with a jerk, bewildered, laying eyes on a blue haired and amber eyed figure that he had indeed seen before, in a similar predicament. What differed was her attire: a white shirt, a skirt of the same colour covered by a long grey/blue jacket, and black shoes with short heels.

"Ah... You're..." Manjoume raised his free hand to point at her, the other still holding onto his sack, and then blushed, turning to the side. "... I'm just lost. It's the first time I come into a mall on my own."

"... Seriously? You seem a bit grown up to me." He blushed further and the young woman laughed again, approaching him right after, slowly. "I'm sorry, I don't want to make fun of you, but... It's strange, you have to admit it."

"... I guess I'm strange, then." Manjoume replied, turning his head to the side, pouting like a little kid, which only surprised the young woman and made her laugh a little more.

"Don't be like that... Maybe I can help you? What are you shopping for?" That made him relax a little. He guessed that he could bear a bit of fun at his expenses if he had the help he needed in exchange.

"Clothes. Maybe some accessories." He replied almost instantaneously. The girl nodded in reply.

"Alright. For future references, malls come with maps." She slowly stretched her arm to make him turn towards a big post hanged to a nearby wall, which provided a map of that floor of the mall with a big red dot saying 'You're here' and under it, the names of the various shops with assigned numbers and the corresponding floors.

"Ah. That's useful." The girl suppressed another giggle, badly.

"Though, not every shop has the same clothes nor the same prices. It depends on one's taste and money, mostly. How much do you want to spend?" That question earned the girl the first smug smile she would ever receive from Manjoume.

"Money is the only problem I don't have." Having become used to the 'lost lamb' state of Manjoume seeing him suddenly use a confident smile like that, that surprised the girl for a few seconds. She recovered right after, though.

"Well, then I guess you can come with me." She started walking towards the elevator, him following her just with his gaze for a few seconds till she turned around. "It's on the sixth floor. Come on."

-Breakline-

"Hmm... Nice choice, and I understand the concern about the prices."

"It's not exactly a normal shop. It's a tailoring boutique." That the shop wasn't normal Manjoume had understood by three things: the first was that it took up half of the floor, the second was the quality of the clothes, the third were the price tags. "The owner and his assistants mostly make custom-made clothes, and if he particularly likes a certain creation he puts it on exposition."

"I see... Just what I needed. This is perfect." Manjoume fingered the sleeve of the long black coat in exposition in the middle of the room. He then turned again to the blue haired young woman. "Thanks... Huhh..."

"Sagiri Mikage. And you are? I can't call you 'eternally lost boy', can I?" She joked, still with a smile, and Manjoume sighed. He felt like she would think of him exactly that for as long as he lived, now. He turned around completely to face her.

"Manjoume Jun." The girl's smile suddenly disappeared, her eyes wide.

"Manjoume... Manjoume?" She muttered, like she was trying really hard to remember something. Then, it hit her. "You... You wouldn't happen to be related to the Manjoume Group?"

"Hmm... I'm the third youngest son." He heard her gasp, and he smiled. Maybe getting rid of that nickname wasn't an impossibility any more.

"The pro duelist? But... Then, what are you doing in Neo Domino City? The pro league isn't fully operative yet, after the reconstruction." Manjoume rolled his eyes.

"I retired." She gasped again. "I'm currently a teacher aide at the local Duel Academy."

"A teacher aide? But..." She realized she had been raising her voice, so she coughed in her fist and calmed down. "I mean... Why? I don't mean to be rude, but... Going from being a pro duelist to a teacher..."

"It's lowly, I know." Manjoume just nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. "Let's just say that being a pro duelist kept me from doing what I really wanted to do."

"... Oh." Mikage decided to not ask any more questions, and he noticed this.

"What about you? What do you do for a living?" That seemed to break her out of her trance.

"Ah. I work for Security."

"Oh... Then, what are you doing wandering around in a mall at the moment?" She flushed, his chuckles saying that it was his turn to tease her.

"Well, at the moment... I'm on a special assignment, with all the implied duties. That includes also retiring some clothes, from time to time." Manjoume raised an eyebrow at that, and she flushed a bit more, embarrassed. She turned her head to the side, a bit angry. "I-If you really must know, I'm the King's personal assistant!"

"Huh? Yugi Muto's personal assistant?"

"N-Not the Duel King! The King!"

"Elvis? But he's dead as a doornail!"

"No! Neo Domino City's King! Atlas-sama! Jack Atlas!"

"... Who?" Mikage gasped at that single word.

"Y-You don't know Atlas-sama?" She suddenly was in his face, and even if she was shorter than him, she was currently shouting at him from above, her sheer intensity making him bending back. "How is that possible? Have you been living under a rock in the past two years? Atlas-sama is the king! The greatest duelist of the city! The city's idol!"

"Woahwoahwoah! Calm down! I've only been in the city for ten days, most, and I haven't been watching much television!"

"What about the manifests? Posters? Merchandise! The whole city is filled with them!" She would have none of that, it seemed.

"I didn't look around much! Ever since coming here, I've only left my house to go to work!" She narrowed her eyes at him a bit more, but then relented. She got back in a normal position, arms crossed and eyes closed. She shook her head, like she was pitying him. That irked him a bit.

"... Fine. You're excused. This once." He groaned. She was so amiable and nice a few seconds before, and now he discovered she was crazy.

"So... I guess this tailor-made thing is for him?" She relaxed again and nodded.

"Yes. It's a special coat made for Riding Duels."

"Miss Sagiri." The talk was interrupted by one of the shop's workers calling out to Mikage, carrying a bundle of plastic enveloping something white. "Your order."

"Thanks. I'll be right there." She said, before turning back to face Manjoume. "Well, I hope you can find your way out of here on your own."

"I'll manage... I'll see you around, I guess." Mikage nodded.

"I do my laundry every Sunday night. If you need any help or if you just feel like talking... Well, bye." She bowed and then hurried to the girl who had the clothes she needed.

Manjoume watched her go while thinking just what kind of relationship he had just formed with the girl. He guessed he had made a new friend, barring that he didn't talk about this 'King' badly, if at all since he had no idea who the guy was and if the rage was any indication, the girl worshipped the ground he walked on. Also... "What the hell is a riding duel?"

-Breakline-

"You're late!"

"I-I'm sorry, Atlas-sama!" It seemed that her fastest hadn't been enough, since once again, the King had had something to say about her work, even if the 'lateness' was non-existent since he hadn't given her a time limit in the first place. The tall blonde then approached her and took the bundle out of her hands. "I guess... I got sidetracked. I apologize."

"Sidetracked, you say." Jack opened the plastic and inspected the riding suit. He didn't find any flaws in that, at least. "By what?"

"Well... By someone, actually. No one important."

"That's for me to decide!" He raised his voice again, and she winced. "Who was he? And how did he sidetrack you?"

"Well... He used to be a pro duelist." She decided to give him the information that she thought would be more interesting to the King first. "Now he's a teacher at the Duel Academy."

"Hmph. So you had to give directions to an old man who got himself lost? Pitiful." She knew that the insult was for Manjoume, still she sweatdropped.

"Ehm... Not really." His piercing gaze was on him again. "I mean... He's not an old geezer. I think he's twenty-one. Twenty-two at most."

"... Twenty-one years old and he already retired from the pro dueling scene?" He turned around to face her completely. "Was he that bad?"

"Not really, Atlas-sama. Last I heard, he was undefeated." She replied, and Jack's eyes widened a little bit more. That was the most surprise he would show.

"... An undefeated pro retires at twenty-one years old to become a teacher in a Duel Academy in Neo Domino City?" He closed his eyes, 'hmm'-ing as he thought about the idea. "That doesn't make sense... Seems far-fetched... So it's probably true."

"He said that being a pro duelist kept him from what he really wants to do." Mikage replied. Jack thought about it a bit more... And then he smiled.

"Heh. I think I may have an idea... It's obvious." Mikage was confused. "Of course! Pro duelists can't fight opponents that aren't other pros unless it's for special occasions!"

"... Huh?" That was true. Pro duelists were pretty much limited in their choice of opponents, and they had to keep a schedule, mostly because being a pro signified being a duelist of a superior level and it was unfair to allow them to compete in amateur tournaments, unless the rules stated precisely that it was open to everyone.

"It's obvious! He came to Neo Domino City, renouncing his career, because he wanted to find an opponent of a superior level! He wants to duel the King!" She sweatdropped and resisted the pull of gravity.

"Huh, Atlas-sama, actually..."

"That's it! Mikage! I have a new assignment for you!" She stopped talking because of the pointed finger and the enthusiasm in his voice. "You have to gather more information on this pro duelist, and you have to organize a match between the two of us!"

"... Eh?"

"I can already see it! The headlines! An undefeated pro leaves a promising career for a chance to fight against the King! It will be a Riding Duel for the ages! The purest form of entertainment!" She really needed to tell him that Manjoume didn't even know who he was and that whatever the reason he left pro dueling was, it sure wasn't to duel him. "So, what are you still doing here? Go!"

"... Yes, Atlas-sama." But he looked so excited and enthusiast, and he was at his most beautiful when he was so focused and anticipated a proper duel. How could she ruin that? "I will commence my mission immediately."

-Breakline-

"AT-CHOOM!"

"Aniki, you caught a cold?"

"Sniff... No, I know colds. This is something else." Manjoume closed the door of his apartment behind him, putting down the bag containing the new clothes he had bought. He had also ordered a tailor-made black coat, but it would have to wait a few days for that to be finished. The jackets and pullovers would make nicely for the nights, though. "This is brewing trouble."

"Trouble? Maybe it has something to do with tomorrow?" Manjoume blinked at that and turned to stare at Ojama Yellow. "You know... Ruka-chan's invite to lunch?"

He slowly pushed his right middle knuckle against his forehead till it hurt. "I knew I was forgetting something."

_To be continued..._

Manjoume starts his job as a teacher, and he discovers that there's more to it that pointing a student's faults and forcing them to face it. In the meanwhile, something starts to brew in the city, as he gets contacted again by Mikage and successively by her superiors. The Black Thunder meets the King. Stay tuned.


	2. Second Thunder

Just a note. The double entredes are DELIBERATE. :D

**Disclaimer:** Yugioh belongs to its rightful creator and the company who manages everything, from anime to manga to the card game itself, of course. What you see as original is mine creation. :D

**New Thunder**

**Chapter 2: Being a teacher is hard work**

"Ruka, have I already told you that you're a genius? And that I love you very very much?"

"Just ten times since you woke up today, Rua." She had never seen his brother so eager to help cleaning the house, even if that was mostly automatized. Ever since she had told him that she had managed to get Manjoume to agree to coming to lunch at their home, he had been hyperactive in both cleaning and preparing himself and his cards. Seems like the teacher-aide wasn't leaving that house without a duel.

Herself, she was acting pretty much normally, but she was eager too for Manjoume's visit. She finally had someone who she could talk with about her powers. Really talk with. Rua was a good listener, but having someone who knew what she was talking about as an interlocutor was something else. As she thought about what they could talk about first, there was a knock at the door.

"COMING!" Rua shouted and with that was away to the door, and Ruka followed him with her gaze. The male twin opened the door and there was standing Manjoume, wearing a more comfortable attire to him. A black shirt under a black jacket, black pants and black shoes, and he was holding a black wrapped box. "Manjoume-san! You're... Uhmm..." Rua observed the older duelist from head to toe. "Black."

"Thanks for stating the obvious." Manjoume replied, narrowing his eyes. Rua just grinned and let him in, and the black haired duelist began to observe the apartment... But calling it apartment was a real diminutive. "... Not bad."

Heavy priced furniture, heavy priced materials, but what really took the cake was the garden outside, complete with a swimming pool. "Not bad at all. You guys are among the wealthy, huh?"

"Heheheh! Our parents get paid lots and lots of money! Not bad, huh?" Rua explained, and Manjoume walked forward till also Ruka's head poked out.

"Manjoume-san, welcome. Did you have trouble finding the place?" Manjoume shook his head. He had just gotten lost once, but it seemed that everyone around that palace knew where 'the nice girl and the rowdy boy with green hair' lived. Then, he stopped, blinking owlishly. Ruka noticed this and got confused. "Huh... Something wrong?"

Manjoume stared a bit more then smiled, smugly as always. Maybe no one had ever seen Manjoume smile normally. "So, you're the cook?"

"Eh? What... Ah!" Ruka lowered her gaze and she noticed that she was still wearing her pink oven gloves and an oversized apron with a chrysalis dolphin on it. The little girl blushed up to her ears. "Ahh! J-Just one moment!"

"Ahahah!" Rua laughed at his sister's predicament as she dove back behind the wall and removed her cooking attire, still blushing profusely.

"I-I'm sorry." Manjoume just chuckled and walked past her.

"Don't be. I think it suited you." The comment just made the poor girl more embarrassed, and Rua snickered, which in turn earned him a kick in the right shin. As the boy howled in pain, Manjoume removed his jacket and started looking around. "Your parents are going to be joining us later?"

"Ah. N-No, they're not here." Ruka replied, staring at the ground as she followed him. Manjoume stopped walking again and turned to the girl again.

"They left you alone the day when someone they don't know is coming home? And where did they go?" The mood of the two seemed to darken a bit at that question, and he could see their smiles becoming a little forced. His eyes widened. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't... I mean, I didn't imagine...!"

"It's alright... We're used to it." Ruka replied, her head dropped. Manjoume felt that sting of pain again.

"Yeah... I mean, it happens. What can we do about it?" Rua replied, and Manjoume was really surprised of how maturely he was behaving to his gaffe and at talking about such a sensitive subject. "Work it's work. Can't be helped if they stay away most of the ye..."

"IF THEY'RE NOT DEAD, SAY SO TO BEGIN WITH, DAMN IT!" Manjoume exploded, red in the face and that earned at first a scare and surprise from the twins, then laughter. It was the black haired man's turn to blush. "... Seriously. You made me feel like an ass."

"Ahahahah... Sorry, sorry. Our parents aren't dead, they're just abroad for work." Rua was still struggling to calm down, but he managed to get some words out nonetheless. "They're gone most of the time."

"... So, you live alone? Who takes care of you?" Ruka shook her head from side to side.

"No one. It's always just me and Rua." Manjoume's eyes widened before narrowing again.

"Can't say I approve..." He commented, his eyes closed to not glare at anything. "... Though, I guess it tells much on your maturity, even if in Rua's case, one would never think of something like this."

"Hey!"

"Twelve years old and living on your own." He relaxed and dropped the wrapped box on the nearby table. "That takes bravery, and a lot of maturity for kids your age."

"... Thank you." The twins said this in unison and bowed, and the would be teacher rolled his eyes, amused.

"Alright, alright. Now let's see how well you two can cook."

-Breakline-

"Hmm... He's more interesting than what I thought." As requested by Jack, Mikage had promptly started doing research on Manjoume, and the first step was consulting Security's and as such, Kaiba Corporation's archive. At least, as much as her level of clearance allowed her to find.

Manjoume was a pretty notorious person in the dueling world and in the external world as well. Youngest of the three Manjoume brothers, heirs to a group which is said to be second just to the Kaiba Corporation in power and influence. He had joined the Duel Academy immediately being placed in the Obelisk Blue students because of the high placement in his exams, votes which he kept for all his academic history.

After graduation, his entrance in the pro dueling world was expected and anticipated, and he didn't let down the expectations. Out of his other past friends from the Academy who entered the pro dueling world after graduation, he's the only unbeaten one. 79 Single Duels, 15 Triangle Duels, 21 Tag Team Duels, 4 Pro Tournaments. He won them all.

_His__ decks...__He__ seems __to__ have__ a __preference __for __Union__ Machine__ Types__ and __LV__ Decks. __Even__ if__..._ Mikage was currently fast-forwarding a match were Manjoume was using his Ojama Deck. _Ojama.__ He's__ usually __one__ for __power, __so__ monsters __like __these __are __really__ strange __for __him __to __use... __And __still, __he __uses__ them__ with __mastery._ She sighed looking at the screen. "He has much more experience than Atlas-sama, that's for sure."

"Who does?" Mikage almost jumped out of her skin. She turned around in her chair and then her heart really threatened to give out on her.

"D-Director Godwin!" She stood up and bowed maybe a bit too deeply to him. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't hear you enter!"

"I noticed. You seemed very focused on your research." Godwin's gaze focused on the computer screen, and he got a close up of the Ojama butt-combining for their Delta Hurricane. "What is it about?"

"Ah... It's about a duelist that Atlas-sama is interested into. I met him recently." She raised her body again. "His name is Manjoume Jun. He's a retired but undefeated pro duelist, and Atlas-sama has expressed interest in dueling him... Well, or better, he believes he came here to duel him."

"Hmm... I take it that's not the case." Mikage shook her head from side to side gently.

"Last I asked, he didn't know who the King was." She explained with a small frown. "Still, if the King wishes to duel him, so it will be."

"Hmm... Agreed. Though, keep me adjourned on the matter, as always." Sagiri bowed again as Godwin turned around and began to leave.

"Of course, Director." As the grey haired man walked out of the room, he thought about the small piece of information he had just received.

_A retired professional duelist... I can use this._

-Breakline-

"Hmm... Duel..."

"He falls asleep so quickly?"

"He's been running around all morning and now he stuffed himself. It's only natural." Ruka replied to Manjoume's comment as they observed Rua napping on the nearby couch and they cleaned the table. Good thing they had a dishwasher, Ruka had used lots of tools and plates to cook lunch, with good results, Manjoume had to admit. Had been ages since he ate a good homecooked meal, and it was incredible that it came from the hands of a twelve years old girl. "I hope he wakes up before you go. He was so eager to duel you."

"Too bad. He shouldn't have eaten all the pastries." He hadn't had the time to unwrap the box and open it that Rua had already started stuffing himself. His fault for choosing his favourite shop, he guessed. "Also, I didn't bring any of my cards."

"Hehehe. Saw that coming." Ruka giggled before putting the last glass in the dishwasher, closing the device's door and starting it, a humming noise filling the air. "We're done."

"Good. I think I will indulge myself with the other couch, then." Manjoume commented before letting himself drop on said couch, a 'huff' escaping him. "You're one hell of a cook, kid."

"Thanks. Ehm..." Manjoume raised his head from the resting place on the couch's back to look at Ruka, who was now flushing and fidgeting, hesitating in something, once again. "Since Rua is sleeping, can we... Ehm..."

"... Hmm..." Manjoume just replied by patting the place on the couch next to him twice. Ruka got what he meant and slowly approached him and then sat on the couch, on the opposite end compared to Manjoume. "Closer." He said.

"Y-Yes." Ruka edged closer to Manjoume... By a few centimetres. The ex-pro sighed.

"Kid, this is something that we can't do unless you get a lot closer to me." Ruka flushed even more and then got up from the couch, walked right up to Manjoume and sat on his right. "There. Was that so difficult?"

"... A bit." He groaned. This was going to be a nightmare.

"... So. Here we are."

"Yes." He resisted the urge to bash his head against the floor. He raised his arms so that they were resting on the back of the couch and crossed his legs.

"So, you said you had lots of questions. Shoot." He edged her forward, and Ruka nodded and began to think about the question she wanted to ask first, cute sounds of thinking escaping her lips every now and then.

"Well, I guess the first would be... When did you start seeing them?" She finally got out with it, and Manjoume nodded.

"Good question. It was the first year of the Duel Academy." He started, and Ruka stopped flushing as she focused all her attention on his words. "Basically, I was in a slump because while I had been hailed as a prodigy when I first entered, I had been losing all my duels with people who were supposed to be inferior to me, and because of that, the same people who respected me started treating me like less than the dirt under their shoes."

"Oh... That's..." Ruka lowered her gaze, trying to imagine the situation. "Not nice..."

"Not nice is an euphemism. It was hell." Manjoume said, reminiscing on the lane of memories. "Still, I reacted possibly in the stupidest way possible. I decided to leave. I believed to be Miyamoto Musashi or something, I guess. Point is, I stole a motorboat and left... There was the problem that I knew next to zero about how to steer it or in which direction the nearest patch of dry land was. So, at a certain point I finished the fuel and the damn thing started sinking."

"I-In the middle of the sea?" Ruka put a hand to her mouth.

"The north half of the pacific ocean I think. It was cold. But let's go with order. In the end I fell in the water and was swallowed by what I would later discover was a mechanical whale... A submarine of sorts." Manjoume continued, remembering how the principal of the Northern Duel Academy had masqueraded himself. "There I met a person who gave me Ojama Yellow. It was the first card spirit I ever met."

"Oh... That card?" Ruka remembered the yellow monster pestering Manjoume during dueling practice, and he nodded.

"Yeah... He immediately started pestering me to go search for his brothers after he materialized... What a bore." He groaned.

"But... I mean, nothing happened to you? Nothing serious?" The young man raised an eyebrow at that.

"What do you mean? Well, I was swept to sea, but the submarine probably landed me directly on the shore, so, I wasn't really in danger... Why do you ask?" Ruka hesitated a bit before talking again.

"Well... In my case, it happened like this. When I was very young... While I was dueling with Rua, I fell into a coma." Manjoume managed to keep his surprise to a minimum, mostly because it was more shock than surprise. How could dueling make one go into a coma? "I spent a month in coma."

"A whole month?" Ruka nodded.

"Yeah... And ever since I woke up, I've been able to hear the voices of the spirits and to see them. The first I ever met was..." Ruka dug into her pocket and picked out a card, and Manjoume's forehead twitched. "My Kuribbon."

"... So I see." _Of __all __the __cards...__Is __the __Kuriboh __line __special __or __something?_ Manjoume sighed at the memory of another person who walked around with a Kuriboh and could see its spirit. "So, you thought that maybe our stories had something in common and you could discern what made us able to see spirits?" Ruka nodded again, a bit disheartened since it didn't seem like the case. Manjoume rubbed his chin.

"Hmm.. Well, maybe there's something..." Manjoume continued, making Ruka raise her head. "You see... Maybe it has something to do with big shocks, or being reborn." Knowing that she wouldn't comprehend what he was saying, he started to explain. "Think about it. You had to fall into a coma and come back, while I had to have my whole personality and goals destroyed and turned around. And a friend of mine..." _...__Maybe __when __he __was __young?_ Judai had told him once about what had happened with 'that' card whenever he summoned it and how one of his friends had fallen into a coma. "Still it's not enough, I guess... Lots of people receive shocks and fall into coma, but they don't become able to see monster spirits. The big shock is probably the trigger, but what makes us special is already there..."

"... Special?" All his speech and she had heard just that word? He frowned at her but then she saw how she looked at him like an expecting puppy. "... You said special? Not strange? Different?"

"Nope. I'm pretty sure that being able to see spirits of the cards and being able to talk to them makes us special, not monsters." Manjoume chuckled, and then tossed Ruka a smug smile. "After all, do you know who else is able to see monster spirits? The Duel King."

"... The Du..." Ruka gasped at the information. "F-For real? How do you know?"

"... How do I know?"

"_I got it from that Yugi! I swear!"_

"_Yes, of cooooourse..."_

"_I swear! I bet that he can see Duel Spirits too and he knew I could see Winged Kuriboh! That's why he gave him to me!"_

"_... So, the Duel King is a Spirit Seer?"_

"_... Wow, you make it sound so cool. Spirit Seer..."_

_"FOCUS ON THE SUBJECT, DAMN IT!"_

"... I got the information from someone who met him." Manjoume said with a smile that Ruka, this time, noticed that wasn't his usual smug one. It was warm, normal, kind, with his eyes looking at nothing in particular on the ceiling. Like he was reliving a fond memory. He then turned that same gaze on her and put a hand on her head, stroking her hair like that day in the park. She blushed and mellowed again under his touch. "We're gonna try to find something more about it, don't worry. Till that moment, though, remember that we're not freaks, but chosen ones."

"... Manjoume-niisan, that's a bit too much, I think. AH!"

"... Eh?" Ruka flushed red and jerked away and Manjoume stiffened like a statue while his skin reached an even paler tone than normal. If it looked like priceless marble before, he now looked like a corpse. He hoped he had just heard wrong. "... What... Did you just... Call me?"

"Ahhh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to... I mean..." Ruka was desperately trying to hide her face with her hands, but they were far too small, and shaking her head from side to side. She stopped, feeling her face temperature reaching critical mass. She slowly moved her eyes to Manjoume's cadaverous figure again. "... It's just..."

"Just..." Manjoume followed her gaze. She wasn't looking at him exactly, she was staring at a particular part of his body. His hand. His right hand. The hand she had been using to pet her. He gasped and slapped it down under one of his legs. "... The hell?"

"It's just... Well, it's just me and Rua, most of the time, and... I mean, mom and dad aren't..." She was fidgeting again, and a sinking feeling was now in Manjoume's gut, understanding, comprehending, and damning himself for doing things without reflecting. It was obvious. The same thing had happened to him when he was young.

His dad and brothers weren't the kind, protective, hugging types. They would compliment him and praise him if he did something well, but that was it. The only person who shoved him physical acts of affection, hugs, kisses, having his head petted, was his mother. After she died he had been left starved of that kind of attention.

Ruka and Rua were probably in the same situation, considering what he knew of their life. He didn't know what kind of people they were, but if he knew that his twelve years daughter was prone to get sick and had fallen once in a coma without a precise medical explanation, he would do anything but leave her living alone with her twin brother, so that didn't make him that optimist about their priorities. They lacked an adult figure in their life. While Rua seemed strong enough to overcome it, at least judging by his usually enthusiastic approach to life, Ruka was far more timid and sensible.

In short, the occasion in the park and what he just did now, even just the memory of his rival brought disasters in his life, was the first affective physical contact she had had in maybe years. Rua didn't look like the hugs type either. And that led him to the train-wreck he was currently facing. After the realization downed on him, that Ruka had just imprinted on him as her favourite adult person, he gasped, and then the two spent minutes staring at each other, not moving nor saying anything, until... "... Uhhh... Can I call you onii..."

"HELL NO!" That made Manjoume recover and go from shocked to ballistic and furious. "WHAT THE HELL? YOU SNEAK-HUG ME IN THE PARK, YOU CRY ON MY CHEST, YOU INVITE ME TO YOUR HOME AND NOW YOU WANT TO CALL ME ONII-CHAN? AND HOW IN HELL IS HE SLEEPING THROUGH ALL THIS?"

"Hmm... Go, Power Toll Dra-zzzzz..."

"Gonna kill you..." Manjoume snarled and then returned his gaze to Ruka and felt a stab of pain again as he took in her crestfallen look. Since the wall was too far to bash his head into, he just started pulling at his hair and snarling till he calmed down. He slowly let go of his hair, his stare on the floor. "... Nii-san. And just in private." Ruka suddenly perked up, and Manjoume raised his head, still glaring, and his right hand with just his index finger stretched out, in admonishment. "It's still Manjoume-san at school, understood?"

"... Thanks, Manjoume-nii." Ruka smiled a beautiful smile but Manjoume was unaffected by the thing.

"Manjoume-nii-SAN." He repeated. He then took a hold of his jacket and put it back on. "Alright. Gotta go and work a bit on my first lesson for Monday. See you at school."

"Bye... Nii-san." She repeated, giggling right after. Even if this time she got it right, Manjoume still shivered from head to toe before opening the front door and slamming it behind him. "... He's so funny."

-Breakline-

Manjoume had one thing to do before going back home. He found the nearest public toilet, got inside, checked that no one else was in the stalls. "... No one." He breathed in and out deeply, and then... "WHAT THE HELL? WHAT KIND OF FREAKING PARENTS MAKE THEIR CHILDREN SO AFFECTION STARVED THAT THEY LATCH ONTO THE FIRST PERSON TO SHOW THEM SOME KIND OF ATTENTION?"

-Breakline-

He didn't know how he knew where he would exited Satellite from, but there he was, waiting for him. He stopped his D-Wheel and removed his helmet to look at him, perched on his elevated position, on another lane of the city's highway. "... Jack."

He laughed at him, that cynical laughter, that mocked his opponents. It was the first time he had ever heard it used against his own person, though. "It's been a while, Yusei." They just stared in each other's eyes before Jack 'hmph'-ed and then raised his gaze to the sky. "As soon as I looked at the moon, I had a feeling you would be coming here." Or better he knew that was one of the few ways to get into Neo Domino City from Satellite unauthorized. "How many years has it been?"

"Two." Yusei replied as the blonde King kept his gaze fixated on the moon.

"Two, huh?" He murmured before lowering his gaze to his old friend again, or better, to what he was riding. The flaming red D-Wheel. "You've built quite the D-Wheel, there. That's not surprising." Yusei had always had a knack for repairing, salvaging and just plainly building things from scratch.

"You did ride off with the one I built before, after all." Yusei was gentle enough to not put in his old friend's face the fact that he had basically stolen it.

"A king never lets a chance slip him by." He commented, not trying to justify nor explain his actions, returning his gaze to the moon, and that irked Yusei a bit.

"... Where is it, now?" Jack slowly returned his gaze to Yusei.

"It's obviously already broken." Yusei clenched his right hand into a fist that he would have had the instinct to throw at Jack's face, had he been a bit closer.

"... What about my card?" Jack had stolen something else precious from him.

"Stardust Dragon, you mean?" Jack dug into his right pocket and took out a single card, holding it between his right index and middle fingers, showing its front to Yusei. It was the card Jack had nominated.

"... That was part of our dreams too."

"Our?"

"... All of our friends in Satellite's dreams." Yusei explained, and Jack just kept on smiling smugly at him.

"Are you still prattling on about that childish nonsense? Now that I've become King, it's a card I no longer need." Jack raised his arm and then extended it, throwing the card straight at Yusei, who caught it with the same two fingers Jack had been using to hold it up. "You can have it back!"

Yusei stared a bit at the card and at Jack's figure, like he was pondering something. He then closed his eyes. "What's wrong? Place it back into your deck."

Instead, Yusei threw it back at Jack once again, who caught him face down. The gesture surprised him, as Yusei dismounted from the D-Wheel and stared hard at him from his lower-placed situation. "I'll get it back in a duel. I bet you had the same thing in mind."

"... Hmph. Fine then." Indeed, he felt like it. Like showing to Yusei his strength, the strength of the King.

-Breakline-

"Is an inter-dimensional synchronized sneeze even something possible?"

"... Just what kind of question is that?" Manjoume murmured under his breath as he started the washing machine by pressing a single red button and then sitting on a free seat, pulling up one of the discarded newspapers. He couldn't for the life of him figure out why he had brought his cards with him, though.

"I don't know, aniki... I felt like it was a question I needed to do after your latest outburst..." Ojama Yellow continued, and the duelist just ignored him. The yellow spirit soon forgot about the predicament and then grinned, floating in front of his leader's face. "Ahhh, but I'm so happy! Aniki got a younger sibling, now!"

"... Shut. Up." Manjoume snarled and tried to focus on the article that said something about this 'King' which Mikage had chewed him about.

"Ahhh, younger siblings are always spoiled by their older ones! That girl sure is lucky to have aniki as an older brother!" He gritted his teeth together till he felt one crack. He then howled in pain. "Ohhh... Aniki, maybe you should make your cute imotou kiss it better... Black an-chan always..."

"For the love of all that is good and decent, SHUT UP!" He roared at his spirit. Fortunately, the place was deserted.

"But I still haven't said anything." Or so he thought. He turned around and he realized that Mikage, wearing the same clothes from the first time he met her, had just entered the laundry and had heard his outburst. He blushed in embarrassment.

"... Sorry. Wasn't talking to you. Didn't see you there." He explained, even if that left Mikage more confused.

"I noticed. But then, who were you talking to?" The question he dreaded.

"... Myself." He let himself fall back on his seat and stared at the ceiling. Mikage chuckled, amused before making her way to a nearby washing machine.

"Had a though week-end?" He nodded in reply.

"You have no idea. I went from having lunch with two crazy twins to preparing my first lesson all day long today." He groaned and lunged forward, slumping over his own legs. "I can't complain about the latter one, but why do kids want to get involved with me that much?"

"Hmm... Care to elaborate on that?" She had a feeling about what could have happened if it concerned children, but she wanted him to come out with it.

"... They just... Keep coming, you know? I mean, it wasn't like this when I was a pro. Sure, there were hordes of fans, but..." He groaned and put a hand over his eyes. "Most were girls. Never seen this many kids around. Not that I met my fans very often. Now, though... I should just be a teacher. I can understand asking me help with things at school, but..." He shivered as he recalled a young voice calling him 'nii-san'. "What those two... I mean, it exudes."

"Well, you got to understand... You're not just a simple teacher to them." Manjoume blinked and turned to Mikage. That sounded familiar. "You're probably some kind of superhero for the most of them, if you're teaching twelve years old."

"... A superhero?" His imagination suddenly ran wild and he didn't know why, he thought of himself dressed up as Sparkman, with a laughing Judai to the side.

"At that age, all children who like Duel Monsters want to become strong, charismatic, undefeated duelists, like you and Atlas-sama." Mikage turned to him for a second to gift him with a beautiful smile. It seemed that it mostly happened when she talked about Jack. "Most of these people though are... Distant, they can just admire them from afar. By becoming their teacher, though, you've become accessible to their attentions. To have just two bold ones out of the whole bunch is lucky, actually."

"... So, I'm a hero..." Manjoume repeated, and then he chuckled darkly right after, surprising Mikage. "Well... I guess it can't be helped. I am strong, after all."

"... Y-Yes... You are undefeated, after all." _He __seems __to __have __something __in __common__ with __Atlas-sama._ Mikage was referring to how easily their egos were stroked. That made her remember that she was supposed to organize a match between the two. "Ah, by the way could you..."

"Huh? What's that?" Manjoume's comment made Mikage stop and look in his same direction. Out of the store through the glass, and she saw that the night outside was being bathed in violet light. He got back on his feet in a flash. "Red light?"

"... What's going on?" The two walked slowly to the door and stepped out into the street, and they noticed that they had been mimicked by a lots of other people, who were also raising their heads to the sky and pointing them in a certain direction. They followed it and they found themselves staring at the Duel Dome. "T-The Dueling Dome? Don't tell me...!"

Suddenly, all the lights in the city went out one after the other, earning quite the reaction from the crowd in the streets. The only light was the violet one covering the dome, and then that went out as well. "... What... Ah!"

"Ahhh!" Suddenly another light shone, this time not from the dome, but from above it as an enormous figure suddenly appeared from inside it, aiming at the sky. It was rough, made of black and red, but he could vaguely make out.

"... A dragon?"

"Anikiiii..." He turned around and he saw that all the Ojama were out, hugging each other and trembling. "That's so scaryyyy..."

"Ojama... What is that? Is that a card spirit?" The trio shook their heads in synchronization from side to side.

"No... It's different... But we can feel that it's powerful, and scaryyy..." Manjoume returned his gaze to the enormous figure, who was now shining with white light. In a few seconds, it scattered and disappeared, leaving the night sky empty once again.

"... What was that?" Manjoume really didn't understand what had just happened, but he had a strange feeling, a familiar one, that he had experienced other times in his life. In all those occasions, he had found himself face to face with...

"I-I gotta go!" Mikage suddenly ran back inside and grabbed her purse and jacket and ran again past Manjoume, putting something in his hands. "Please, could you do my laundry for me as well? That's my phone, give me a ring call so that I know how to contact you! Later!"

"E-Eh? Wait a..." Before what she had said had even had the chance to course through his brain, she had already disappeared into the night. "... Crazy woman." He placed the ticket in one of his pants' back pockets, walking inside back past the owners of the laundry, before kneeling in front of the washing machine Mikage had been filling with the clothes she had brought with her using a bag. "Better get down to it so that as soon as the light comes back..."

It came back right in that instant, and Manjoume finally realized that of all the clothes he could have touched first, he was currently holding in his hands... "... P-P-P-P-Pa...!" He shot one of his hands to his nose to stop the incoming blood-loss and not stain any clothes. Black silk panties. His favourite colour and quite an adult set of undergarments. In the bag there was a matching bra too. "... She has... Good taste, I guess."

-Breakline-

"... Well... I guess that this is fate, after all." When Godwin and the others had realized that Jack had met with someone from his past from Satellite he had got angry, really angry. They had invested too much in Jack's figure as King to risk the truth about his past coming out.

Though, that had all changed when the outcome of their riding duel was that they now had confirmed that Jack was a Signer and that his friend Yusei was another. Adding to that their other two suspects, they had a complete group.

"Hihihihi... Well, so... I guess we can put in motion the second part of the plan, Director." His clownish assistant said, and Godwin nodded, opening a file on his computer, that had been just adjourned. It opened with four pictures that lead each one to a different file. Two were of Jack and Yusei, one was of Ruka, the last one was of a figure with long dark red hair with a mask covering its face.

"Indeed... Now, about the other contestants..." With another impish laugh, the red-clad man produced out of nowhere four files laying them on the desk in front of the director of Security, who went through the names quickly before opening the first one.

"These four are the ones we have selected. They're all strong duelists, and their peculiarities also make them ideal for our goals. Hihihihi..." Godwin started going through the file of a certain Shira, but his mind wandered to someone else. A duelist that Mikage had mentioned...

"D-Director Godwin!" Talk about the devil. The two occupants of the room turned around as the automatic doors opened and let in a panting Mikage, still wearing her 'civilian' clothes. "Is... Is Atlas-sama... Alright?"

"Quite zealous, Sagiri. Working this late?" Jeager mocked the blue haired woman with his laughter, which earned him a glare from Mikage.

"Hmm... Mikage-san, did you manage to complete your research on that... Ex-pro duelist, was it?" The sudden question from Godwin earned him surprised from both of his interlocutors. Mikage stared at him for a few seconds, still regaining her breath before nodding.

"Yes... I made a copy of everything I could find with my level of access and sent a copy to your terminal as well, Director. You should find it in the shared directory." Godwin nodded. That wouldn't be enough, though. He opened his front drawer and picked out a digital key, throwing it to Mikage who caught it swiftly.

"That digital key will give you a master level of access to the archive of the Kaiba Corporation." That earned him surprise from both Jeager and Mikage. "I trust your discretion to only access the necessary files to make a complete profile of the man."

"... Yes, Director." Mikage got back in a normal standing position, clutching gently the digital key in her hand. "But... Can I ask why?"

"The King expressed an interest in battling this man. I merely want to see if the opportunity should be given to him." Mikage observed the director's face a few more seconds before nodding and excusing herself, under the confused stare of Jeager.

"Director... What was all that about?" Godwin just smiled.

"Let's just say that I have researched a suiting duelist myself." Of course he had already read the file Mikage had sent him and did his own piece of research, but appearances and secrecy were important, after all. For all she had to know, they were looking for competitors for a Duel Monsters tournament, nothing else.

-Breakline-

"... And that's it." Manjoume had returned to school with his first week of lessons planned out, and while miss Maria thought of it as pretty normal, the principal knew better. He could see the hidden pattern under all those lessons, and where they would probably lead.

"I see you thought these out pretty well... But..." Maria had noticed something else too. "Each day you want them to study and utilize a different kind of deck?"

"A crash course will let me understand just how well they can adapt to cards they're not familiar with. There are times when duelists are not allowed to use their favourite cards nor to familiarize with their new ones." Manjoume stated, remembering his own experience at the Northern Academy. "It's for their own good. Also, it will let me see who are the ones in direst need of help... Well, even if I have a feeling."

"Ehm... I guess." Miss Maria laughed nervously. If he had been paying attention, he would have noticed which student had been losing all his duels except for when he was allowed to use machine-type monsters.

"Very well... I approve of this. I'm very curious about the results." The principal chuckled as he thought about the reactions of the students.

-Breakline-

"... Say it was a malfunction of the Dome's light system."

"And they expect us to believe that?" Tenpei commented as the class discussed about the same subject: last night's incident with the dome and the red dragon. "A simple malfunction could explain the intense light, but something like the apparition of that red dragon shape? Not a chance."

"Hmm... True." Rua conceded, scratching his chin in thought. It was going to be the whole city's talk for a long while, he bet. Shaking his head from side to side, he grinned widely right after. "Ah, whatever! I can't wait for class to start!"

"Because today it's supposed to be Manjoume-san's first lesson, right?" Bob said, cutting in. Rua just nodded. "But how do you know that?"

"Heheheheh..." Showing himself quite genre savvy, Rua closed his eyes and shook his right index finger from side to side, before opening a single eye and smiling at Bob, who just sweatdropped. "Now, that's... A seeeeeeeeecret!"

"They're coming!" Before anyone had a chance to comment, the whole class quieted down and turned around, before standing just as Manjoume got inside the classroom ahead of miss Maria, bowing and then sitting down again. Manjoume dropped his suitcase just beside the desk before placing a hand on it, moving his head as to observe slowly all the students.

"Hmm... You seem to have a certain amount of discipline ingrained in you already. Good. That will come useful in the following days." He crossed his arms in front of his chest. "As you may have understood, this day marks my first personal lesson... And to begin, I ask you a question. What are you here for?" The question seemed to confuse most of the class, and Manjoume just kept on moving his eyes slowly, trying to catch a raised hand, a sign of someone wanting to reply. "Well? I'm waiting for an answer."

"Huu..." Patty tentatively raised her hand. "We're here... To learn how to duel..."

"Wrong!" He immediately interject with a loud voice, scaring the hell out of the poor girl and some others. He stretched his right arm and corresponding index finger, pointing it at no one in particular in the classroom. "That kind of conviction isn't going to take you anywhere! You're here to become great duelists! Perfect duelists! Your aspiration should be to become the best duelist around!"

"Heh? But that's..." Tenpei voiced his surprise and shock, or at least tried to, as he covered his mouth with both hands right after.

"Impossible? Of all the people in the world, you're the least qualified to say that about yourself!" That confused even miss Maria. "No one knows his strengths and weaknesses from the beginning! His hidden qualities, his faults, if he's special in some way! He can learn though!" As he started to explain himself, the class focused their attention on him again as he trust his arms to his sides. "Each person learns that in a different way! Musicians play music, create pieces! Writers write! And what does a duelist do? How does a duelist discover the truth about himself?"

"... He duels." Rua whispered, his gaze locked on Manjoume's figure, who then trusted his arm in his direction.

"Louder!"

"H-He duels!" Rua got up from his chair in a flash, scaring his neighbours a little as he raised his voice in the process. "A duelist duels!"

"Exactly! A duelist duels! He prepares for duels, he creates decks, he duels opponents! That's the only way he can discover the efficiency of his strategies and sometimes, truths about himself! That's what I'm gonna help you do!" Manjoume declared, crossing his arms behind his back right after. "I may not be with you for long, but as long as I'm allowed to teach you, I'm going to do everything in my power to help you discover truths about yourself and become better duelists!"

Many of the students were now staring in awe at the aide. Patty was one of the ones who were just being impressed by the sheer intensity in his voice, and that allowed her to notice that surprisingly, the one who was most entranced by Manjoume wasn't Rua, who seemed to already have a particularly strong admiration for the black haired former pro, but Ruka, if her smile and shining, she swore they were shining with some kind of light, eyes were any indication. "In return, I want you to give me your all! 1! 10! 100! 1000 percent! Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir!" Rua actually saluted.

"Manjoume-san will suffice." Manjoume declared, crossing his arms over his chest and closing his eyes, waiting for the clamour to die down. When he reopened his eyes, he noticed that he had managed to get to his objective. All the students were showing at least some degree of determination. _Seems__ like __Mikage __was __right._

He had decided to make that speech only overnight, after the short speech he had had with Mikage and the bit about him being a superhero of some kind to those small children. He then guessed that he could use it some way, and he had been right. Nodding to himself for a good job and then flushing as he remembered that he would have to call her to return her laundry, including some embarrassing undergarments, he grabbed a piece of chalk and started writing on the blackboard. "Alright. Let's start our lesson. We're going to study a different attributed each day, and practice with it in the afternoon classes. We'll start with Fire. Now, who can..."

As Manjoume started his lesson, miss Maria was just at that moment recovering, flushing slightly as she realized that she had been affected by the speech herself.

-Breakline-

"Alright. Next couple." Manjoume had started falling into line with the teacher's job. Until now, it came naturally to him, as it probably was because the subject and the procedures were familiar to him. He only had problems on the first day, when he realized that he would have to dumb down his language to get some aspects of the subject through to his students. When he had used the word 'polymerization' instead of 'fusion' they had all stared at him like he had just grown Blue Eyes White Dragon wings.

They fell into a certain routine from the first day: theory in the morning, practice in the afternoon. To be able to make all the children fight once every day, he had made the special rule that every fight had to end in ten turns. Miss Maria had observed that it was too little of an arc of time to evaluate the students, but he had had no problems with that. He had been forced to do similar evaluations in even less time, on some occasions with his life on the line.

He was quite pleased with the results, at the moment. They were at the third day, studying the Wind attribute, and it seemed like most of his students had understood that just going into battle unprepared wasn't doing them much good. The first day the results had been tied to just dumb luck since they didn't know what was in the deck and it was presented to them only when it was time to start fighting. So, how to get a familiarity with it?

The first one to get it was, unsurprisingly, knowing her grades, Ruka. She had been observing closely the other children's fight since day one, understanding that in that situation it was the only way she was going to become acquainted with the decks before fighting. Judging from her performances, he had half an idea that she had managed to memorize all the cards, barring ones that for a chance didn't get draw and/or used at all. It was impressive, to say the least.

She had also been the only one to be able to conclude her match in those ten turns he had allowed. She was probably already familiar with wind creatures. He would have to up the challenge for her. The next day she would be the first to fight. He found herself smiling at her and she caught him, if her blush and pretty smile were any indication. That caused him to pause and slap his face twice, earning confusion from Maria.

Though... To tell the truth, other people had won their matches in that arc of time. One each day, even on the first day, but he didn't count those. Why? Because it wasn't because of any particular ability on the winner's part... "Ahhhh! Come on! I lost again?" But it was a lack of such on the loser's side. He sighed as he saw Rua's life points drop to 0 once again.

Even from the first day and the previous week, he had understood Rua's type. His grades were bad, but he wasn't particularly lacking in talent. He could become a good duelist, but he still had the enthusiasm that characterized a child and his favourite toy. Once he found it, he would focus on it and it only. In Duel Monsters, that was an habit that needed to be kicked out of him as soon as possible.

Rua absolutely loved machine-type decks, and he could safely bet the Morphtronics line of cards, and he was pretty much unstoppable when using his own deck. When he was fighting kids his own age, that was, with the exception of Ruka, obviously. That was because she already understood the makings of a great duelists. Studying. A duelist never stopped studying because they never stopped releasing new cards.

Most duelists once they were out of the academy or once they found a style of play they were comfortable with, studied other cards because there was the definite chance that one day they would find themselves facing an opponent able to use them. That was the defining difference between good duelists and champions. "If only I could have used my own deck..."

"Sadly, that's not the purpose of the exercise, Rua." Manjoume said as he noted down the result of the duel.

"But I can't win with such weak cards! It isn't fair..." Ruka was about to admonish her brother but instead, her attention got diverted by Manjoume, but there was no trace of admiration or affection. This time, she was surprised and a bit worried.

Manjoume's whole body had frozen. The tip of his pencil had just broken, rolling and falling to the ground silently making a strangely audible sound. She couldn't see his expression because his head was held low, but she couldn't feel anything good coming.

"... Weak cards?" He repeated, his head still held low and his voice even lower.

"Yeah! I mean, there are so few with special abilities and most have weak attack power. How am I supposed to win with these kind of cards?" Rua seemed to not have caught the tension in Manjoume's voice, nor he seemed to notice the older boy's pencil snapping in his right hand. Maria and Ruka surely did, if their bodily reactions were any indication.

"... Really, now." Manjoume seemed to relax, at least his face seemed neutral and he calmly set down the broken pencil and the pad. He stood up from his chair, grabbed his briefcase and started walking in Rua's direction. "Rua, do you happen to have your deck with you?"

"Eh? Yes, of course." Manjoume nodded as he stopped in front of Rua.

"Good. Then, class, we're going to stop the exercise for today. We're gonna have a special lesson." Those words surprised everyone. "Rua, you're going to duel me."

"EH? REALLY?" Rua exploded, suddenly exuberant. His sister understood why, that was what he had wanted to since Manjoume had arrived at their school. He trusted his hands into the air. "Yatta! I get to fight Manjoume-san!"

"I'm happy to see that you're so eager. Well, shall we make it more interesting for you?" Manjoume suddenly opened his briefcase and started browsing through it before picking out a couple cards out of it. "If you manage to win, I'm going to give you these."

"Huh? The... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Rua got even louder, if possible. His eyes got almost glued to the couple of cards Manjoume was holding in his hands. They were two magic cards that he knew very well, since his deck was built around equip cards. "BUTTERFLY DAGGER ELMA AND MAGE POWER?"

"Oh, so you know these cards?" Rua nodded even more eagerly before realizing the condition.

"But... I mean, I doubt I can win against you, Manjoume-san..." The boy suddenly became meek, but Ruka didn't notice any chance in Manjoume's attitude. He was now smiling, but she could see the malice behind it.

"Oh, it's alright. I said this was a special lesson, didn't I? I'm going to use a special deck." He placed the two cards back into the briefcase before pulling out a deck. "This deck is very peculiar, Rua."

"Huh? Is it? How so?"

"All the monsters in this deck have an attack power of 0." If the announcement of a 'special lesson' surprised everyone who wasn't Manjoume, this announcement had left everyone floored, some students letting out loud expressions of disbelief.

"Manjoume-san... Ahhh, I see! You wanted to gift your favourite students but you had to choose a way to not make it look like it was favouritism, right? Man, you're the best!" Rua elaborated on his own, while Manjoume's stare didn't falter. The young boy pulled out unceremoniously the practice deck and handed it to one of his classmates before replacing it in the Dueling Disk's slot with his own. "Alright! Let's do this quick!"

-Breakline-

In the case of the first time he ever used that deck, it had been a very close battle where he had proved his strength as a duelist and also that every card is only as weak as its owner. It was one of the most glorious moments in his life, the day he finally got rid of his brothers' pressure and he started walking his own path.

Since it was the first time he used that deck in a real duel, coupled with the bunch of rare cards bought by his brothers, the whole thing had been a difficult duel. Not a close call, since there was no way he would be defeated. He was Manjoume Thunder, after all.

But the duel he had just finished with Rua? The matter of a few minutes he had just gone through?

"R-Rua..." Ruka always fought with his brother, often berated him for his behaviour and his lack of application to anything academic but he remained first and foremost her dear brother.

"... Damn it." The class as a whole had winced and Patty let a curse slip by. Usually teachers took their sweet time when dueling students, turning the loss in a lesson, an education. Sure, that probably wouldn't have worked with the thick headed Rua...

"I... I..." But there hadn't been a trace of mercy in the speedy duel they had just disputed. Manjoume had been merciless and most of all, silent. Through the whole duel Rua and the whole room had only heard him declare his actions, not even the names of his cards, all the while his eyes were observing the aquamarine-haired student with pity and... Disgust.

"... The lesson's over." Manjoume declared, putting his deck back in its holder and removing the duel disk from his arm. "Can anyone tell me what have we learned today?" He addressed the whole room but his gaze kept on being stuck on Rua. "No? Well, it's quite simple. There are no strong or weak cards. There are only strong or weak duelists." Rua flinched when Manjoume's gaze suddenly took a turn for the worse. He was truly and utterly pissed. "In short words, if you keep on getting your ass kicked by all your classmates unless you use always the same cards it's your own damn fault! Don't go blaming your deck for something that it's your own fault, brat!"

"... Ah... Aaaaah!" With that, Rua broke down, running out of the gym with tears coming out and a desperate tone in his voice.

"R-Rua!" Ruka left after him. The first to react was miss Maria.

"L-Lesson's over! Go back to class, please!" The woman pressed her students on while the Ojama let themselves be heard to Manjoume.

"A-Aniki... That wasn't really nice."

"You could have showed a little mercy..."

"Yeah! With words, at least!"

"Then I would have missed the point of all this entirely." He answered to his spirits and he turned to his right side to see miss Maria, the students removed from the gym, approaching him with a pissed off face.

"Manjoume-san! You've gone way too far!" The young woman shouted, to which the black haired duelist reacted with aplomb if not complete indifference.

"I thought our duty was to educate students." He said, meeting her angry eyes with his cool ones. "That boy needed to be educated on recognizing his own faults before we could even hope to teach him how to duel."

"Do you think I don't know? I've been Rua's teacher for much longer than you, Manjoume-san. I know he needed a wake up call, but this isn't the way!"

"... This is the way I got mine." Manjoume continued to which Maria reacted with confusion. "I got defeated, humiliated and abandoned by those same people that called themselves my friends... Well, not that I really thought of them as such." He chuckled grimly. "Only after I was humbled I recognized my faults and how to overcome them."

"... I can only sympathize with that, but Manjoume-san, the point is that not everyone is as strong in spirit as you are." Maria continued, an exasperated sigh taking the ex-pro's attention. "While I agree with you that Rua needed to be humbled, there were other ways to do that. Not everyone can recover from a face-first collision with the harsh truth. Sometimes it needs patience, time. Rua is just a kid."

"... Patience, huh?" One thing he still had to master when it didn't come to certain aspects of his life. He sighed. "... I get it. Seems like being a teacher is more complicated work than I thought."

"It's not only about a student's academic results. It's about making them into adults trying to not traumatize them in the process. Kids don't have only problems related to school. There's family, friends... Many other things." Maria continued. "You're not that old that you could have possibly already forgotten that."

"True." Manjoume groaned. He acknowledged that he may had been a bit too harsh with Rua. The duel would have probably been fine by itself but he just couldn't resist badmouthing him too. "... What should I do?"

"Properly apologize for what you did wrong. Learn from your mistake and try to be a better teacher for him." Apologize? Now there was an elephant in the room.

-Break-

"Rua... Come on, we have to go to school."

"You go, Ruka... I'm just going to hide in here till the day I die." Ruka sighed and leaned her head softly against the cabinet's doors. This was ridiculous. He had been hiding in the closet since yesterday evening. She really hoped he had gotten out for bathroom breaks.

"Rua, I understand that Manjoume-san hurt you when-"

"It's not that he hurt me." Rua interrupted his twin sister which left her slightly confused. He wasn't hiding in the closet because of hurt feelings? Then, why... "It's that he was right... I mean, I've always been goofing around and faulting the cards I used whenever I lost. I've been an idiot."

"Well, yeah but... Then, if he didn't hurt your feelings and you're not angry with him then why are you hiding in a closet?"

"... Because he hates me. How can I show my face to him again?" Ruka palmed her face, loudly. So that was it. It's not that he was angry at Manjoume or downright destroyed because of the 'lesson'. He was ashamed of himself and didn't dare show his face to the person he idolized and had gotten angry with his idiocy.

"Rua, for..."

"So, I've been worrying and trying to think of a good way to phrase an apology all night long for nothing?" The closet itself jumped, both twins startled by the sudden appearance of a familiar voice.

"M-Manjoume-san?" Rua calmed down a little. "How did you get inside? The door..."

"Don't sweat the small details." He amended the young girl with a pat on her head before stopping in front of the sweating closet. "Rua. Come out."

"N-No!"

"Don't make me open this thing." Manjoume pressed on the scared boy, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Not that he could see him but the kid probably 'felt' it at a base level.

"... Ok." With a wooden noise the door began to open and a pretty dirty and messy aquamarine mop of hair suddenly appeared in view.

"... So, maybe I was a bit too harsh with words. For that, I apologize." Manjoume began, pausing for a few seconds to let the fact that he, the Thunder, was apologizing sink into the twins' heads. "But that out of the way, I take you understood why I did it?"

"... Yes."

"You understand that I absolutely hate people who place faults in cards instead of themselves and don't try to better themselves daily?"

"Yes."

"Good." Manjoume approved with a nod. Then he smirked. "Also, I have a strong dislike for people who skip school and suddenly decided to stop attending my lessons."

"Ah! I-I'm sorry...!" Suddenly Rua felt a hand on top of his head. He blinked and looked up. Manjoume was smiling at him.

"Be sure to attend school everyday, Rua. A teacher's not a teacher without his students, right?" The black haired aide then removed his hand and turned around, heading for the entrance. "And take a shower. You can't become a strong duelist without taking care of yourself first."

"Eh... Y-Yes." The male twin was left utterly confused, while Ruka quickly acquired a warm smile as she watched the young man walking out of their apartment. "W-What was that about? Why was he smiling?"

"Because he was happy that you weren't angry at him, Rua. And also because you understood what he wanted to teach you." She explained and Rua looked embarrassed at the floor. "So? What do we say to that?"

"... Maybe I should start studying a bit more?"

_To be continued_

_In the next chapter..._

After starting to adjust to life as a teacher, Manjoume gets thrown for a spin in something bigger that is about to encompass the whole city. A shaking event of which he gets a first taste because of his two favourite students. Stay tuned!


	3. Third Thunder

Okay! Here we are with the third chapter! Before that, important notes!

1) I have edited the second chapter. Gone is the mess that befell some of the thoughts sentences and also I had to edit some dialogue because I noticed I had made an error regarding the awareness of a certain character.

2) Sorry to tell you this, but you're late. :P I have had this chapter posted a week ago already on my Blog. Just check my profile and follow the 'Homepage' link. The PDF version of this chapter is special looking too. :D

That said, I don't want to keep you anymore. Here's the third chapter of New Thunder! Enjoy!

**New Thunder 3**

**Chapter3: The Trash and the Thunder**

"Okay. That's all for today." Manjoume declared as he settled his papers back together and the bell rang, signaling the end of another week of school, much to the relief of most students. The thrill of having an ex-pro as a teacher had quickly died down once Manjoume had revealed himself as a very stern teacher. He pushed everyone as hard as possible, and Rua even more. "Be sure to relax on this weekend, but also don't forget about the test we're gonna have sometime before the golden week starts."

Cue groans from most of the classroom. The Thunder allowed himself a wry smile and a dark chuckle at his subjects' expenses as he settled his material back into his briefcase. He had learned two things from Rua's experience. First, he had to learn how to more subtly push his students to study. Second, subtle threats were much more his style and much more amusing and as effective without risks of psychological breakdowns... Not many.

Also, that was the first day he had done a lesson without miss Maria's presence. He wondered what had been so important to persuade her to leave him alone with the students. "Manjoume-san."

"Ruka." He closed his briefcase and turned to meet a smiling young girl. "How was the lesson?" He had also learned, on miss Maria's suggestion, to take feedback now that he was still an aide. Once he was a real teacher he couldn't allow to show himself unsure. Even if he wasn't.

"It's was easy to follow. Rua actually managed to write down some notes." She chuckled as he laid eyes on the twin who was finishing writing something down before getting up from his seat. "Well... Also, I wanted to wish you a good week-end."

"Thanks. Ah, before I forget..." Manjoume's right hand dove for his right pocket, presenting to the world a mobile phone. "What's your e-mail?"

"E-EH?" Ruka reddened and looked around, noticing that no one had paid any attention to her outburst because of the almost empty classroom and the cacophony that was the corridor. "M-My e-mail?"

"Yeah. I mean, I can't always be around you. If you happen to have any questions about... That thing, you can just e-mail me and I can answer." A few clicks later, his gaze was on the very flustered Ruka again who suddenly found her joined hands and the floor very interesting. "... Well?"

"A-Ah! Yes!" She replied and hastily began to dig for her own phone, while, from the corridor, a trio of close friends observed.

-Break-

"Come in, Manjoume-san. We're just about done." A knock later, Manjoume found himself in the principal's office once again. As he suspected, that was where he found miss Maria, putting away what looked like files of the students.

"I was kind of curious as to what you and the principal have been doing all morning, miss Maria." He closed the door behind him and helped her with half of the pile she had been trying to carry back to a nearby cabinet. "Archive review?"

"Sort of. We were checking for Hikikomori." The principal answered as he turned around in his seat. "Fortunately seems like most of our students are pretty happy and eager to come to school... With a few exceptions."

"Yeah. There's one student in particular from the senior high school section that hasn't been coming to school in months..." Maria sighed as she settled that particular file in the cabinet. "The girl had a serious problem that-Oh!"

"Leave it." A picture had dropped out of the file as miss Maria put it back in place. Manjoume knelt down to pick it up. Red hair, big eyes... He blinked. Her expression... He stood back up. "Here."

"Thanks..." Manjoume put a hand to his chin. He had already seen that kind of expression, of gaze in people's eyes. It never bode well for the person donning it. He suddenly found himself suddenly curious about that student.

-Break-

"Pleasepleasepleaseplease!"

"No, Rua! Settle down!" She knew this was going to happen. Rua had started behaving differently... In front of Manjoume. She was the one who still had the old knuckle-headed one. And while she wouldn't have it any other way, sometimes he really became too much. "I'm not going to give you Manjoume-san's email, and that's final."

"Awww! You're so mean!" Rua declared with a pout, his posture slumped. "Why do only you get to have his email?"

"... Because... I need it in case..." She fidgeted. Rua had always been the one believing her and protecting her because of her 'problem' but she hadn't told him about the little agreement she had with Manjoume. She felt a little guilty because of that. "... Sorry, I can't tell you."

"Huuu? What do you mean you-"

"Oh, god! Then it's true!" The twins snapped their heads back and met the horrified gaze of Patty and the gaping ones of Tenpei and Bob. The girl of the trio suddenly ran to Ruka and grabbed her shoulders. "Ruka, why didn't you tell me?"

"T-T-Tell you what, Patty?" Ruka stuttered, confused as much as her brother.

"That you... You know..." Patty blushed and looked down. Ruka was becoming more confused by the second. Just what was- "That you're in love with Manjoume-san!"

"... WHAAAAAAAAAAT?" Ruka became redder than humanly possible. "PATTY, WHAT THE HELL? WHAT GAVE YOU THAT IDEA?"

"Well, you always blush and fidget near him! You invited him to your home! You just exchanged emails!" Patty continued and Ruka was planning to find out just how she had discovered the second matter. "Why didn't you tell me? I could have advised you!"

"P-Patty, that's not-"

"Then... That's the secret you were talking about?" Ruka snapped her head to the side and flinched when she saw Rua's head downcast. "Of all the things..."

"R-Rua, it's not-"

"Damn, you're the best, sister!" Again, Ruka's brain did a reset. "Do your best! Manjoume-san as my brother-in-law... That would be great!"

"Rua, what are you saying? Think of the age difference! And she's too young to..." Ruka shut herself out from the world, finding her happy place and staying there until they lost their voice or the blood to her face made her lose consciousness. One of the two.

-Break-

"... Yes... Yes... YES!" Manjoume Jun threw his hands in the air, in triumph, holding the trophies that signaled that he had reached yet another goal in life. "It tastes good!"

"Yay! Aniki managed to cook curry rice!" Settling down the chopsticks and the plate filled with rice and curry rice back on the table, eating at a steady pace as his monsters cheered his first successful attempt at cooking something without burning anything.

"Aaah... Blissful freedom, liberty. The shackles of being tied down to servants or precooked food are washing away like the curry down my throat..." Manjoume indulged himself in some poetry... When his eyes suddenly bulged out. "AAAAAH!" Scaring the hell out of all the monster spirits, he suddenly shouted out loud and shot straight for the fridge, retrieving a carton of milk and starting to gulp down its contents. "Aaah!"

"A-Aniki, what happened?"

"I think... I may have exaggerated with the spice." He gasped for air as he settled the milk down on the table. He should have put in some cheese as the recipe suggested. "... Well, can still add it n-" A knock on the door interrupted his line of thought. "... This late? Hope it's not Rua..."

"Manjoume-san?" The voice was female and awfully familiar. He walked to the front door and opened it, revealing as he thought his blue haired acquaintance.

"Saigiri-san. Good evening." He moved to the side to let her come in, which she did with a bow. He closed the door right after. "Quite the unusual time for a visit."

"I know. Think of the rumors if one of your neighbors saw me go in." Now, that he hadn't thought of. He flushed and shook his head from side to side while Mikage looked around. "Well, it isn't as luxurious as I thought your home would be."

"I'm trying to try and live a more... Normal life." The black haired boy answered, banishing those thoughts from his mind. "After graduating, I didn't use any money that I haven't earned myself. I have quite a bit of savings from my tenure as a pro duelist, but I try not to overdo it."

"Hmm. Kitchen, living room, and I bet that door over there leads to the bedroom and bathroom. Quite the bachelor pad." Mikage commented with a smile, which only made Manjoume roll his eyes.

"Saigiri-san, I fancy myself quite the perceptive person. Stop beating around the bush. Also, sit down." He pointed to the small couch in front of the plasma TV. "Can I offer you something to drink?"

"Sorry. And... Maybe some of that milk?" She chuckled and sat down as offered while Manjoume tensed, wondering if he had another carton since he had drunk from that on the table mouth first. Fortune had, he did. "I like to drink some in the evening."

"Ehm, yeah. Me too." He poured her a glass and hoped that she didn't connect the milk with the food. She accepted the offered glass and he noticed that she was wearing the same clothes as last time, in the laundry. Darn, having to meet to give her back her laundry had been embarrassing, especially when an old lady had noticed some black lace poking out of the bag. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the nearby wall. "So, what brings you here?"

"Well... Work, actually." Now, that made him curious. "You remember that I work for Security, right?"

"And for the King. I remember." He added. She smiled, seemingly satisfied by his answer. He sighed in relief. "But what does that have to do with me?"

"Well, first... That was kind of a lie. I don't work for security. I work for an higher spectrum organization. And for the reason, I don't really know the details. My boss, mister Godwin, would like to have a word with you, on this Sunday." She opened her purse and presented to him what looked like a badge or a pass. He took it and observed the object. It was a pass for Security personnel. "We'd like you to show up at the Duel Dome at 8:30."

"The Duel Dome, hm?" That all screamed 'dueling' to him. He knew that Security took care of policing the city and theoretically even Satellite but he didn't really research on their involvement with the dueling circle of the city. I mean, they were a subsidiary of Kaiba Corporation, yes, but why did what was essentially a police force mixed with public administration involve themselves with dueling? All in all, the thing made him curious enough to accept. "Alright. I will be there."

"Really? Thanks." Mikage smiled and gave him a small nod. "Hey, maybe I will be able to make you meet the King!"

"... That would be great?" He really hoped she didn't notice it was a question more than an admission.

-Break-

_25th of April_

"... I guess this 'King' really knows how to bring people in." Manjoume had done as asked and was now standing in front of the entrance of the Duel Dome at 08:27, and he had noticed that the closer he got to the place the bigger the crowd became. He could honestly say that most pro matches didn't have that big of an attendance. "Either the guy's charismatic or his manager is that good."

As he walked around, he tried to locate a door with a 'personnel only' light, which would probably be the one where Mikage would come out of to pick him up. And just as he found the door and the clock signaled 08:30, out came the blue haired young woman. "Manjoume-san. You're awfully punctual."

"I hate to make people wait." He replied as she let him in, the young man showing his badge to the guards right outside the door before following her inside through a corridor and then to an elevator which started to bring them up. "So... Any idea yet about as to why your boss wants to meet me?"

"No, I'm sorry. He's been very reserved." Mikage shook her head and then stayed silent as much as her guest as the elevator ride continued. Once they arrived, Manjoume found himself staring at the stadium itself through the enormous glass window that made up most of the confinement of that floor. "Mister Godwin. This is Manjoume Jun."

"Punctual. I wouldn't have expected anything else." He noticed the three men in the room, all of different ages, clothing and attitude. "I'm Godwin, head of the Public Maintenance Bureau."

The one that first jumped to his eyes was the jester. He couldn't call him anything else but that. Make up and all.

Then came the one who was probably Godwin. Well dressed, an aura of importance and mannerism and also the only one of the two others left old enough to occupy such an important position.

That though left the young boy, who wasn't without a certain stern charisma himself, to be the one Mikage worshiped and revered. And that was the first time he thought something bad about the blue haired woman, since the blonde boy sitting in the room couldn't be more than seventeen. Saigiri herself wasn't that much older, but he was still underage.

"Mister Godwin. And... I guess you must be the King." Manjoume observed, his gaze moving slowly from the oldest man to the youngest one. He liked his style, but he absolutely abhorred white. "Saigiri-san talked a lot about you."

"... Good job, Mikage." The blonde haired young man stood up and walked in front of Manjoume, revealing him to be taller than him. He was one of the tallest people he had ever met, actually. He was no shortie, he had reached a noble 180 cm, but the boy stood even taller, around 190. "Indeed, I am the King. I have been waiting for you to appear before me... Opponent."

"... You didn't even bother to look up my name, did you? Also, you didn't care to notice that Mikage has just uttered it." He sighed, rolling his eyes. This guy's attitude was so familiar that he almost facepalmed. Then he went over his words. "Opponent, huh? So you want to organize a match between me and the King, here?"

"... In a sense." Godwin admitted, and Jack turned to look at him with satisfaction expressed in his eyes. The silver haired man motion for Mikage to approach them as he lead the way to nearby couches. Manjoume took a seat beside Jack while Godwin sat in front of them. Mikage and the jester stood. "I guess it's a good time as any to tell you about this too, Jack. We're organizing a special event for the Golden Week."

"... What kind of event?"

"We're going to call it the Duel of Fortune Cup." The clown guy -he doubted he would ever call it anything else in his mind- continued for his boss. "We've selected a number of skilled duelists for a small tournament which holds as a prize a chance to challenge the King for his very title."

"... Don't I get challenged for that every week or so? What's the point in a tournament?" Jack commented, not liking the idea very much, it seemed.

"It will be a competition set to find the ultimate opponent for you, King. We will be sure that this time, the title match will be pure entertainment." Godwin used the right words to stroke Jack's ego and appease him, at least for the moment, since he chose silence.

"Let me guess... There's an invite with my name on it." Manjoume smiled smugly, leaning back on the couch with his back and extending his arms on it, bent at the elbow, just to bump into another arm as he did so. He turned to his right just as Jack turned to his left. A small staring contest ensued as they realized they had acquired the same pose at the same identical moment.

"As I was saying..." Broken only by Gowin's voice, which presented a list to Manjoume. A short lists of names and titles belonging to duelists. "Yes, we would like you to accept the invite and to participate in the cup. It's an unique occasion, since the rules prohibit us from including any official pros of the Dueling League."

"So, you want to spice the show up with some real talent and experience among the many showmen." Manjoume chuckled darkly before quitting his laid pack position and shooting forward with his upper body. "Well, the real question is: why should I want to compete for the opportunity to become the next poster boy for Security? I still don't get why you're the ones taking care of this. It's not like I need the money. I have a real job."

"M-Manjoume-san!" Mikage was probably more outraged for the indirect offense to Jack than the direct one to Security.

"A good question. Well, we can't offer you anything else that the opportunity to fight strong opponents. I thought that would appeal to you..."

"There's only one person that I long for to fight against, director, and he's not going to participate in this. Although..." There was a name in the list that made him really wary of the whole thing. Ruka was a really good student but just how the hell did she end up in a list of people personally invited by security to participate in that freakshow of a tournament? _Now__that__I__think__about__it,__she's__never__used__her__own__personal__deck__in__class.__Was__she__holding__out__on__me__or..._ "... I'll think about it. Picture me interested."

-Break-

_29th of April, start of the Golden Week_

"Aaaah! First day of vacation! No studying for an entire week! This is awesome!" Rua declared as he put away the plates in the dishwasher, a good dinner having been consumed that evening. "Although... A week without seeing Manjoume-san... Hmm, this sucks."

"I guess..." Even if he had to wonder just what was with Ruka. After speaking with said teacher aide on the last day of school, she had been very often lost in thought. Maybe she had confessed? … Nah, his sister wasn't that brave yet. She had even tried to deny to the death that she was infatuated with their teacher. So sweet.

Ruka's mind though wasn't in the gutter like her brother's. She and Manjoume had had an unusual conversation, yes, but about something else entirely. And she still couldn't understand what it had been about.

"_Ruka... Everything's okay?"_

"_Eh?" Ruka suddenly blushed and started fidgeting. Maybe he had noticed her uneasiness around him ever since Patty and the others had misunderstood everything and threw her mind for a loop? "Ehm... Yeah. Everything's okay."_

"_... You sure?" He insisted, bringing his face at the same level as her one to look at her in the eyes, which caused her to blush even more. "... Okay." He suddenly recovered his phone and after a few seconds, her own trembled, signaling an incoming email. "That's my private number."_

"_... Really?" Oh, god. Patty and Rua would have a field day with this._

"_If anything strange happens, I want you to call me immediately." His face and tone was deadly serious, though. "If you see anything strange, if you meet anyone strange, hell, if you get unusual mail. I want you to call me. Alright?"_

"_Huh... Alright. But-Ah!" She got interrupted by a small smile and a pat on her head._

"_Good girl."_

"... Rua, by the way, did any mail arrive, this morning?"

"Ah, yeah! I put it in the usual place!" Which meant on the furniture near the entrance door. She stood up from the couch and approached the bunch of letters. Two were advertising. Another one was about some growing girls magazine. She sighed and discarded them in the trash. The last one... It was addressed to her. She opened it and revealed a neatly written letter with a ticket. The subject was... "Invite to Duel of Fortune Cup?"

"Huh? Fortune what?" Rua peeked from behind her shoulder as she read through the letter and then gasped at the same time as her eyes went wide. "WOOOOW! A TOURNAMENT? AN OPPORTUNITY TO DUEL THE KING? THAT'S SO COOL! SISTER, YOU'RE SO LUCKY!"

"... Was this what he meant? But how did he know?" Ruka didn't notice the enthusiasm -well, marginally, since he still was that damn loud- as she started to understand what the deal had been with Manjoume and his being worried about mail, of all things. He knew that this letter was to arrive. "This is really weird."

"Still, it's awesome! Right? Right?" Rua didn't have an head cool enough nor the perception to understand everything that was weird and not awesome with the letter.

"Rua, can you get me my-Ah!" Suddenly, an image flashed in front of her eyes. She dropped the letter. The image repeated. Someone riding a D-Wheel getting attacked by a bunch of members of security with stun-batons. Another flash. He crashed into the garbage removal point that was in the alley right behind the ground floor of their skyscraper. She didn't understand what had happened but the spirits... A voice that she felt so familiar... She was saying 'Help him'. Not bothering to pick the card up again, she dove for the front door.

"Eh? R-Ruka! What's wrong? Ruka!"

-Break-

"Kuu... Huu..." It had been hard, painful. He had kept on going as long as possible but he was quickly reaching his limit.

After breaking out of the prison, there had been the matter of getting his D-Wheel back from a security storage. Breaking out had been another matter entirely. Getting away from that Security Guard and his numerous colleagues had been almost impossible. He had only managed it thanks to the unexpected but welcomed help of Saiga and he still had gotten electrocuted many times as he sped away from the warehouse.

He had managed to get away in the end but now he was losing consciousness after impacting against a bunch of garbage. In the end, his eyes closed as his ears caught the sound of approaching footsteps. Too light to be guards...

"R-Ruka, this person..."

-Break-

"Boss... Been a while since I saw you like this."

"What do you mean, Zaloog?" Manjoume asked while not raising his gaze from the bunch of cards on the desk in front of him and in his hands as the spirit floated right behind him, arms and legs crossed in mid-air.

"Focused, cards on display... Are you creating a new deck?"

"... Not just one, actually." Manjoume admitted as he settled to the side the Warrior type monster he had been looking over. That made Don Zaloog even more interested.

"Oooh. So, is there a possibility to see some action?"

"Yeah. There is. I have this feeling that I'm gonna need to duel again, and I mean really duel, very soon." The young duelist leaned back on his chair and stretched his arms, smiling. "So, I thought that it would be a good occasion to make you guys stretch a little. Better to be always prepared."

"Hahahaha! Wait till I tell the other guys! They're gonna party like there's no tomorrow!" He bet they would. It was a good thing not all the cards he possessed had spirits or he would never be able to get any-His cellphone started ringing.

"Just a moment, Don. Moshi moshi?"

"M-Manjoume-niisan..." He instinctively stood from the chair.

"Ruka. What's wrong?"

"A strange letter arrived." He had seen right, then. "Also... Something else happened. The spirits... They..."

"The spirits? What did the spirits do?" Manjoume asked, and he could hear something in the background. It sounded like Rua lamenting about having to drag something heavy on his own. Just what happened? "Ruka, I'm coming right now."

"...Thank you. Please do." Closing the call, he grabbed one of the decks on the table and his coat on the way out.

-Break-

"I really... Need to get some kind of means of personal transportation..." Manjoume declared as he panted, having had to run all the way there because of trains not running anymore that late and not knowing anything about buses. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and entered the skyscraper, taking the elevator. In a couple minutes he was in front of the door to the twins' apartment, opening it in a flash. "Ruka! Rua!"

"Manjoume-san! Look what we found!" Usually a child used that wording when he talked about a puppy or some other kind of animal or a small treasure, like a card or deck someone had carelessly thrown away.

"... What the hell?" What he had just laid eyes on was a guy covered in a blanket taking a nap on their couch and what looked like a weird motorcycle in the middle of their living room. "Rua, what did you do this time?"

"I did nothing! It's Ruka who ran out and said something about the spirits saying... Huuu, I'm confused..." He 'tsk-ed'. He had lost his cool for a few seconds. He breathed deeply to calm himself and turned to Ruka who was kneeling by the couch, observing the stranger as he slept.

"... Ruka." He walked and knelt beside her, observing the stranger sleeping on the couch, of whom he could only see the face. Black hair in a curved spiky hairdo, black and gold. He seemed to be no older than the 'King' and he had a strange gold tattoo on his face. He had read something about those tattoos but he couldn't for the life of him remember what they meant. "Who is this man?"

"I don't know." Ruka admitted, gripping her fists into her lap. "We found him passed out in the alley behind the building."

"How did you know he was there? You mentioned the spirits." Manjoume inquired further. Ruka gripped her hands even further.

"I... I saw what happened to him. I had a vision... Of him getting attacked and passing out... And then I heard a voice." Ruka stared at her hands, shaken by the fact. "I don't know... It sounded awfully familiar but I couldn't put a name on it. She told me to help him. That's... That's not normal, is it?"

"... No." Seeing card spirits was one thing. Having visions and hearing voices... That was another matter entirely. "... Ruka. There's something I think you should know."

"W-What is it?" The young girl asked meekly and Rua distracted himself from the D-Wheel as well.

"I don't think that seeing spirits is the root of the problem, here. Or better, I don't think you're a normal 'Spirit Seer' like I am." The girl's eyes went wide and she gripped her hands so much that it hurt. "I think that something happened the day you fell into a coma. After all, it happened... Suddenly. Without any violent incident or anything. I think that while you were in coma, something happened to you and that you being able to see card spirits is just one of the side-effects."

"I... I can't... I don't..." Again, she found a hand on top of her head and she relaxed. Manjoume may had found himself in that position by chance but damn it if he wasn't going to do the best job he could at that as well.

"Calm down. It's nothing wrong yet. After all, you aren't 'seeing things'. You found him where your vision told you to find him. And as for the voice telling you to help him... I think this guy is connected to you someway. Maybe he doesn't even know it himself." Manjoume doubted they would get much out of him but he needed to at least try. He stood up. "Okay. Tonight, I'm sleeping here. Before that, though..." That declaration seemed to calm down Ruka even more and to excite Rua, as foretold. "I'll need to use your shower. Also, can I borrow some sleeping wear?"

"S-S-Shower?" Ruka's mind wasn't completely out of the gutter, it seemed. Damn friends.

-Break-

His head didn't hurt as badly as he thought it would. Also, the road was unusually soft, on that street. Also, garbage was really soft and... His mind rebooted as he opened his eyes and a soft light hit him. He wasn't on the road covered in garbage, he was on a couch covered with a blanket. He sat up and looked around, his eyes stopping on a black haired person sitting on a couch in front of him wearing gray long sleeved pajamas. "Good morning."

"... Who are you?" He asked, wary of his surroundings since last time he was awake he was being chased by police.

"Manjoume Jun. That's Manjoume-san for you, though." He stood up from the couch and walked around his own one. He followed him with his gaze. "Mind some coffee? You look like someone who has had a rough night. When the kids found you, you were covered in bruises and even a couple burns. I'd say stun-batons."

"Kids?" He ignored the offer but Manjoume still started making coffee. It was too easy. The whole thing was automatized.

"Yeah, twins. They found you collapsed outside. They also brought with them your D-Wheeler, don't ask me how they did it. That's a mystery to me too." Manjoume had understood that the man was probably on his guard, more than him, that was for sure. He chose silence till the coffee was ready. For someone with headache, it was the ultimate peace offering. "Do you have a name or do I have to keep calling you 'you'?"

The younger man stared at the offered cup for a few seconds before slowly accepting it. They had had all the time in the world to turn him in, after all. "Yusei."

"Good. Now, Yusei... Why were you being chased by Security?" He wasn't on his guard as before but he still didn't reply. "Ruka says that mark is applied to criminals but she also said that you're not one." She had said that his deck was treated very well. For that he had one point on his side as well.

"It's better if you don't know." He didn't want to cause trouble. Another point to his favor. Seems like Ruka's mysterious voice wasn't misleading.

"Well, it's okay if you don't want to talk about it." He then turned his head in the direction of the corridor. "Just come out, you two. He's okay."

"Seriously?" The first one was Rua, revealing that the two had already changed into their everyday clothes. Ruka followed a few seconds later. She was still wary of the stranger, nonetheless. "You're finally awake! We were so surprised when we found you!"

"They're Rua and Ruka. This is Yusei, but I bet you were listening in on us." Manjoume introduced them for him. Yusei nodded in acknowledgment and finished his coffee, removing the blanket right after.

"Thanks for the help, but it's better if I go, now."

"Why the rush?" Manjoume put down his own cup as Yusei put on his jacket.

"I don't want to cause you trouble. As you said..." He pointed at the marker on his face.

"I understand that, but this is Tops. Highest point in Neo Domino City and the place where all the rich and wealthy live. Not even Security can get in here without an authorization. So, for now, you're safe." Manjoume continued, standing up again. "If you're worried about your motorcycle, it's behind that angle there." Yusei followed the direction Manjoume pointed at with his head.

"Still..."

"If you want to leave, do it when it's night and no one can see you leaving. If you leave now, you could cause trouble for these two. It's their home, after all." Yusei turned around to face him again, thinking about his words. He nodded after a few seconds. "Good. Rua, Ruka, I'm gonna go change."

"Ooookay!" Rua shot back eager. "Hey! Are you a duelist? You must be, you have a D-Wheel!"

-Break-

"Hmm... I should have brought a change." Manjoume sniffed his shirt as he put it on. "Ruka! Can I borrow your father's clothes while I put mine in the washer?"

"H-How did you know I was behind the door?" Ruka squeaked from outside the room. The Thunder rolled his eyes.

"You still don't feel comfortable enough to be left alone with Yusei, even if I told you it's okay. I just guessed you would be there. So? Clothes."

"Uhm, go ahead." Manjoume opened the wardrobe. Good thing the man had more or less his same size. "... Manjoume-niisan?"

"Yeah?"

"How did you know that letter would arrive?" Now, there was the question.

"... I've been invited to participate in the Cup as well. Ruka, answer this truthfully." Manjoume continued dressing himself, as he found a pair of jeans and a shirt that he liked. "Just how strong of a duelist are you?"

"Uhm... The truth?" She couldn't see him nod of course but he had already asked for the truth. "I'm strong. Really, really strong. I think I could give even you a nice match, Manjoume-nii."

"Nii-san. So, I guess that's why they invited you. You're strong enough to challenge for the title of King." He finished dressing himself and opened the door. "Still, there's something weird about this whole thing. What do you plan to do?"

"... I don't want to go, to tell the truth. I don't really care for the title of King... Well, Queen, I guess." She chuckled at her mishap. "Rua doesn't approve, of course."

"I guess he would jump at the opportunity." Manjoume put a hand on Ruka's back and nudged her forward, walking by her side. "But you're the one who got the invite, so he will have no choice but-"

"That's why I will dress as Ruka and duel instead of her!" Manjoume almost lost his footing.

-Break-

All in all, it had been a fairly normal day... For a psycho. Manjoume flopped onto the couch exhausted as both Rua and Ruka had finally been put to sleep, the male twin having been even more energetic than usual. It remembered him of the first time they had met. Seemed that making new acquaintances did that to him.

After having to explain to him why cross-dressing was unacceptable, Yusei had accepted to duel Rua. It ended like foreseeable. Rua was getting better with his strategies but he was still too focused on looking cool and too less on actually winning the match. Yusei surprised him by noticing that and actually being able to reprimand him without offending him. "... Not my style."

"What is?" Yusei's voice echoed over the sound of tinkering. He was modifying the twins' duel disks so that they could actually wear them.

"... Being patient, understanding, gentle. Like you did this morning with Rua. I'm always been a no-nonsense kind of guy. Always will be." He sighed and turned around. "You're probably good with kids, huh?"

"You are too." That comment surprised him. "You're their teacher but you came running when they called for a problem in the middle of the night."

"Well... That's because..." Manjoume struggled to find the right words. "They're living all alone. No parents nor tutors. Also Rua's a hothead and Ruka may be more rational but she's still a child, with lots of insecurities. I can't just leave them alone, no matter how annoying the situation may be."

"Do you really think everyone would do that?" Yusei asked him and he thought about it for a while.

"No." He groaned as he scratched the back of his head. "Guess I really softened up along the way."

"That's our boss. Cool like few but the kindest person alive." Zaloog commented as he appeared in the living room. He had kept guard around the apartment all day. And even if he passed in front of and talked near Yusei all day...

_He__didn't__notice__Zaloog._ So he couldn't see spirits like Ruka. So whatever connected him to Ruka was something else. "How much more till you're done with those?"

"Done." Yusei answered almost immediately, standing up. Manjoume nodded and mimicked him, gathering his coat.

"Time for us to go, then." As he said that, Yusei looked at him strangely. "You don't want to get me involved, I know. I'm just going to walk with you to the entrance of this thing."

"... Alright." Yusei headed for his D-Wheel and then from the door. Ruka had given Manjoume a spare key for the house. More gossip would be abound with Patty and her entourage. In the elevator, Manjoume also began to think of something else he had seen during Yusei's short lived duel with Rua.

"Hey. When you summoned those... Synchro monsters, right?"

"Yes." He nodded. The duel had been educative for him as well, on the use and summoning of Synchro Monsters. Seemed like in a few years, those new kind of monsters had started spreading in Domino City. Shortly after the incident that destroyed it, actually. They had only recently started getting sold outside of it. Tuners and Synchro monsters. Maybe it was time to buy some booster packs again? It was from the time of the academy that he didn't do that. "Just curious about what the hell was with that sentence you said out loud when you summoned it."

"... What sentence?"

"Something about clustering stars. What's the deal with that?" Yusei just stared at him strangely. "... Nevermind."

-Break-

"Well, this is where we part ways." Manjoume declared as they got out of Tops, handing back to Yusei the spare helmet. He had cut off on a lot of road by getting a lift. Like the previous night, it was too late for the metro or any other means of public transport. "Try not to get caught, this time."

"I'll be more careful. Thanks for the help." The young man from satellite then put his D-Wheel in gear and sprinted off, leaving an evaluating Manjoume to observe his disappearing form.

"Hmm... And here I am without any answers for Ruka." He groaned. With so little time, there was nothing he could have done less of asking him 'Hey, Ruka hears voices and sees monsters. Do you do too or did the voice get drunk on airwaves?'. Yeah, that would have gone reaaal well. "And who knows when... Huh."

A strong blue and red light distracted him as he saw a motorcycle speed in the direction Yusei had disappeared towards. "... Security." Now, what to do? "... Damn it. I can't let him get caught." Trying to catch up to them on foot. Another run, for that evening.

-Break-

"Argh... Aaah... Gotta... Get... A car! Or something!" He wheezed as his body threatened to give out on him. He leaned on a wall and turned an angle... And sighed in relief, trying to catch his breath. He had caught up to him and that Security guy... But someone else did as well if the limo parked in front of the two was any indication. "... What is he doing here?"

Not very easy to forget such a peculiar guy. The clown, Godwin's second. "This would be it." The short man walked to Yusei and presented him a very familiar envelope and something else, a piece of paper or a photograph. He didn't miss Yusei's eyes going wide. "We would like you to attend the Duel of Fortune Cup. If you should refuse, we guarantee the ones displayed in this photo will experience pain beyond imagination. Understand?"

"... The hell?" After saying those words, the clown boarded his car again and in a few seconds disappeared into the night. That was a bona fide threat. A menace. A promise of torture for someone that, if the expression was any indication, Yusei knew really well. All to make him take part in that damn tournament? "... Yusei!"

"... Manjoume-san?" His voice was enough to break him out of his thoughts, it seemed. Or maybe it was the rage, seeing the poor end of the now empty envelope. The glare he sent his way-wait, his way? "Do you have anything to do with this?"

"Eh? What are you-" He calmed down and thought about the circumstances. He had followed him, he had an interest in him not getting caught by security... Yeah. He could see were Yusei was coming from. He shook his head. "No, I'm not with the clown. I'm just a teacher aide. But..." He looked at the letter, the invite for the cup, which he had no doubt have gotten as well by now. No doubts about it. "I've received an invite to this thing as well. Ruka did too, if you remember."

"... What is going on?" Yusei mused out loud. Manjoume shook his head again.

"I don't know. Not yet... Geez, this is a mess." The ex-pro scratched the back of his head. "I think we need to talk. Exchange information, at least. Do you know somewhere where-"

"Yusei!" The two black haired youths turned to the right to see another newcomer to the scene, a man with brown hair wearing mostly green. "Are you alright?"

"Saiga." Yusei stated the man's name, confirming that he knew him.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" And then the air got broken by the frustrated scream of the Security man. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?"

"... Seems like we're really in for some fun, boss." Manjoume groaned at Zaloog's comment. They really were in for something. He didn't know if it would be fun, though.

-Break-

"You can stay here until the Fortune Cup begins." In the end, after introductions, Saiga had brought Yusei and by collateral Manjoume, to a warehouse turned into hideout. "Although there isn't much furniture, all your basic essentials are. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask."

"It's enough. Sorry."

"The one who should be saying sorry is me."

"No, I'm the one who should say 'Sorry' and then add 'there's still the matter of your blackmail'." Manjoume interrupted. Now that they had gotten somewhere private, he just wanted to get everything out of the way. He slumped down on the nearby couch. He had been doing that a lot in the last 48 hours. "Just why the hell would they do something like that? Threaten someone you know to make you participate?"

"... Probably because they knew that I wouldn't participate otherwise." Yusei parked his D-Wheel and then turned to talk face to face with Manjoume. "I don't have any interest in the title of King... Although, I have some unfinished business to take care of with Jack."

"... Are they serious?" Would they have done this with him as well if he hadn't said that he would think about it? And what about Ruka? "Are they really that desperate to turn this into such a big show? At the point to go to such means to do it?"

"Hmm... The point is, they own this city. There isn't really anyone able to tell them what they can or cannot do... Maybe only Seto Kaiba himself, but he's long since transferred overseas." After the disaster of Domino City, the principal headquarters of the Kaiba Corporation had transferred to another place, of course, and seeing how Neo Domino City had developed, the corporation had found no economically profitable reason to transfer back there, even if they still held control over pretty much the whole city.

"But only that? For the sake of entertainment they would go to these lengths There were six other people on that list I saw, did they blackmail each and everyone of them?" Manjoume, biting his finger, didn't notice Yusei protectively shift his left hand to his right forearm. _No,__there's__something__else...__Something__tying__together__all__this__behind__the__scenes.__Maybe__it__has__to__do__with__Ruka's__condition__as__well?_ "... Seems like we have no choice but to all take part in this tournament. I'll have to talk with Ruka too."

"... You said there were other people on a list? You mean to say that you spoke to Godwin personally?" Manjoume nodded at Saiga's question. "Do you happen to remember any of the names? I may be able to look up some information about them."

"Hmm... I remember a couple. One was called... Boomer, if I remember correctly. And another one... Huh." The other name that had stuck to his memory from his quick read-over other than the first which was just that strange, was a name that he had already read somewhere else. He stood up in a flash. "The hikikomori?"

"That's a strange name."

"NO, YOU IDIOT! IT'S NOT A NAME! IT'S... Darn it." He rubbed his head through his hair in exasperation. Things were getting more and more confusing. He thought he had had enough of these kind of messes when he studied at the academy. _Let's __just __hope __I __don't __end __up __for __another__ round __of __the __wheel __with__ the __destiny __of __the __world __as __a __prize._

-Break-

_1 of May_

"So, I've decided to accept. I will be there." As he had foretold, when he had come back home, there was a letter waiting for him along with a business card. Mikage's one. After some sleep, the morning after he had two things to do set in his mind. First, call Mikage to accept. Secondly, go talk to Rua and Ruka.

"That's a relief to hear. I'm sure Atlas-sama will be very happy t-"

"What? That's completely unacceptable!"

"A-Atlas-sama?" He pinched the bridge of his nose. Troubled sleep, lots of problems and unsolved mysteries, and now the 'King' butting in on a private conversation. What the hell did he want? "I just realized! Mikage! I said that I wanted you to organize a duel between that man and me! But instead he ended up in the Cup! If he loses, how am I going to fight him?"

"B-But that's director Godwin's orders. I-"

"Useless. If you're my secretary, you sh-"

"WILL YOU SHUT UP?" He was happy to being in an elevator where no one could hear him scream. He hoped he didn't burst Mikage's eardrum. That's what how he treated her? Damn it. More and more similar by the day. And he hated it. "Mikage, just tell that idiot that I will fight him whenever he wants after the cup if he just SHUTS UP!"

"M-Manjoume-san! Why are you so rude?" He couldn't believe his own ears. "... Is director Godwin there, by any chance?"

"Huh? Yes."

"Pass the phone." A few seconds of rustling later... "Manjoume-san?" "Director, I have an offer if only to make that damned idiot shut up. An extra duel in the cup. A Tag Team Duel."

"... Continue."

"We choose two people from the crowd and then fight a Tag Team Battle. He can fight me even if I lose in the first round and if he loses he can blame it all on his partner. Happy with the arrangement?" The director chose silence for a few seconds and then a low chuckle could be heard through the phone. "You really are a pro. The proposal is interesting. We'll try and organize the matter. It will probably take place on the last day of the cup."

"Good. Have a good day." That said he closed the call and then leaned his forehead against the door of the elevator. "He yells at her and I'M the rude one? … Maybe I did shout in her ear." He straightened his clothes as he got out of the elevator, knocking on the door of the twins' apartment. The sounds of approaching footsteps and then the door opened, revealing a head adorned by two pigtails.

"Manjoume-niisan. Good morning." She opened the door and let him in. "I was worried when I didn't see you when we woke up."

"Things have gotten a bit more complicated, I fear... Where's Rua? He needs to listen to this as well." Manjoume looked around for the male twin but found no one else in the house.

"He's out with Tenpei. They said something about finding and defeating the Black Rose Witch." She sighed, shaking her head. "Honestly, boys..."

"Spoken like a true older sister." He rolled his eyes and turned around. "And what's this about a witch? Some kind of bedtime story?"

"No. It's a rumor that's been circulating recently." Ruka explained, putting a hand to her lips. "It says that there's a duelist, a woman dressed like a witch that... Well, can do magic when she duels."

That made him raise an eyebrow. "Magic? What do you mean?"

"Well, they say that she's been killing people during duels." Ruka was distracted so she couldn't see Manjoume pale in the face. "They say that when she attacks with a monster, 'the earth really shakes' and that when she plays a magic or trap card they become real. Honestly, th-"

"Where?" In a flash Manjoume was in front of Ruka, grabbing her shoulders with a bewildered face. "Ruka, where did they go?"

"E-Eh? I-I think near the old Daimon Arena! Manjoume-niisan, what-" Before she could finish her sentence, Manjoume was out the door and in the elevator again.

-Break-

"Shitshitshitshitshit!" _Let__ it __be __just __a __rumor,__ let __it __be __just __a __rumor!_ Manjoume was cursing the bad luck that seemed to have befallen that city. Kids hearing voices, organizations threatening people to get them to participate in duels, and now... "The last thing I need is someone who plays Duels of Darkness in the mix!"

-Break-

"The Protecting Star will make the light of our Dragon Star much stronger." Somewhere else, in a reconstruction of a somewhat aztec-looking temple, looking at a computer generated sky, stood Godwin. The preparations were all set. "You all have sworn our souls to us Yliaster. In order to serve the power of the stars, you Duel Assassins have been assembled."

He wasn't alone in the room, where last time he had brought Jack and explained to him about the Red Dragon. He was accompanied by his second in command, and five figures all wearing long brown cloaks. "Feed your power to the stars, and locate the ones holding the Dragon's Birthmark."

The five cloaked men nodded as one, while Godwin kept on praying to the stars, focusing on a particularly bright, red one which seemed to shine right above a stone altar. "All of which is for the coming time."

-Break-

_I__don't__think__I've__ran__more__in__the__last__few__days__than__in__the__last__few__years!_ It wasn't entirely true but it was certain that once again Manjoume had to break into a crazy run even if this time he had the necessary help of public transportation. "Damn... Idiot..." The witch had mostly appeared in one of the 'bad' neighborhoods of the city, far from Rua's and Ruka's place. Fortunately he knew the way since it was near the place where Yusei's current hideout was. He headed for the spot where the local dueling ring was supposed to be. "Even if he couldn't suspect such a story to be true, coming to a place like this..."

In the end he had reached his destination. He could tell from the large number of people circled around two towering solid visions. Now he only hoped he could find...

"Yusei!" The familiar voice made him turn to the side and indeed, there he was. Yusei was present too, along with a few new faces.

"This isn't a place for children. What are you doing here?" Yusei commented with a stern behavior... Well, he thought it was. The boy's facial expression didn't change.

"Well said, Yusei." He let out through gritted teeth. His voice was low but he was heard nonetheless.

"Wah! M-Manjoume-sensei!" Tenpei let out in a squeak as he observed a pretty irate ex-pro walk in their direction.

"Just Manjoume-san. Not a sensei yet, but..." His forehead twitched as he stopped in front of the duo. Rua whined and plugged his ears. He knew what was coming. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOUR HEAD?"

"AAAAH!" Poor Tenpei didn't have the same wisdom.

"COMING TO A PLACE LIKE THIS ALONE TO TRY AND FIGHT A 'WITCH'? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?" Manjoume berated the two children while the adults had made good with Rua's example and plugged their ears.

"Damn, you're loud..." Saiga commented as he cringed, the fingers not enough to buffer all the decibels.

"Yusei, who the hell is this?" The bulky guy accompanying Yusei shouted back, not really amused, while the old man just covered each ear with the whole hand.

"He... Helped me when I was being chased by Security." Yusei was the first to recover, mostly because Manjoume had to catch his breath. "Also, he's going to participate into the Fortune Cup as well."

"Huh? As well?" Just then, Rua noticed what Yusei was holding in his right hand. "Waaah! Yusei, you got an invite too! See, Tenpei? Yusei is such an awesome duelist that he got selected to fight in the Fortune Cup!" The boy then acquired a standoffish posture and pointed his left index finger at the man from satellite. "I won't lose this time, Yu-Erk." He stopped abruptly when he recalled Manjoume's reaction to his proposal. "Well... Maybe not..."

"... Actually, I changed my mind on that." Rua blinked and Yusei's eyes slightly widened, expressing his surprise. "Go ahead and do it, if you want to."

"... YATTA! I LOVE YOU, MANJOUME-SAN!"

"ACK! LET GO OF MY NECK, YOU IDIOT!" Yusei was there when Manjoume had threatened Rua to avoid making him masquerade as Ruka to duel in the cup. He had been adamant. So...

"Ah." He got it. Whatever Goldwin wanted, the invite was sent to Ruka, not Rua. If Rua dueled instead of his twin sister, they would solve two problems: avoid getting Ruka into the bunk of things and also take her out of the game very soon, since Rua would probably lose if he fought anyone of their level.

"You made this boy so happy! You're the best, aniki!" To make matters worse, he had brought the Ojama brothers with him that day.

"Three hooray for aniki!"

"Huh... Brothers, not to be a joy-killer but..." Yellow, strangely, wasn't joining in. That was enough to give even Manjoume pause. "But I feel something... Bad."

"Something bad?" Green was the next. "H-Hey, it's true!"

"Hey, ain't this like... Last time?"

"... What do you..." Manjoume had managed to get Rua off him but suddenly Yusei winced and fell on one knee to the ground. "Yusei!"

"What the... Ah!" To top it off, the ground suddenly started shaking as Saiga abruptly noticed. "An earthquake?"

"The witch!"

"Run away!" Manjoume's eyes widened while Rua's enthusiasm quickly died down as the ground shook some more and suddenly dark purple spiked tendrils shot through the air, crashing against nearby buildings and one broke through the asphalt right in front of them, sending them all flying.

"Argh!" Manjoume fell hard on his side, the blow disorienting him. When he recovered he could see Yusei had landed on his feet and was staring up at a huge creature clouded in dust. He cursed. "I hoped to be wrong... But seems like I won't get what I wish for so easily."

"S-Sonny, the mark!" Manjoume followed the jeezer's gaze... To the glowing mark of red light on Yusei's forearm. "This is the mark of a signer! The Dragon's Birthmark!"

"Dragon... Birthmark?" Manjoume mouthed as he got back on his feet only to have to shield his eyes as a blinding light shone from the inside the cloud of dust. When he removed the hand, he witnessed Yusei running into the cloud of dust followed suit by Rua. "Wait! Stop!"

Following after the two of them, he found them a few meters inside observing a figure wearing a long, wavy cloak and a porcelain mask, a duel disk on an arm and strands of long red hair flowing out of the hood. "That's... The witch?" Rua murmured while slowly advancing. Manjoume gripped his shoulder to hold him back while at the same time Yusei put his left arm in the boy's way.

"Rua, stay back." Manjoume advanced till he was standing beside Yusei while the cloud dust dissipated alongside the monster. The other components of their ragtag group approached as well.

"The Black Rose Witch... So it really exists." Saiga said out loud. Manjoume didn't take his eyes off the 'witch'. She jerked her head. Something had upset her.

"You too?" Who was she talking to?

"You too?" Yusei parrotted. Sounded a lot like Rua's earlier exchange... Something hit him. Maybe she was referring to the mark? He was broke out of his thoughts as Yusei suddenly started approaching her. "H-Hey! Yusei!"

"Wretched mark!" The witch suddenly put a card on her duel disk and strong gales of wind started blowing in their direction while a pillar of light hid her from sight. When they reopened their eyes, she was gone. Also, Yusei's mark had stopped glowing.

"... Seems like your mark startled her. We were lucky." The ex-pro commented as he started connecting the dots. The Ojamas being startled. 'Last time'. Red light. Dragon birthmarks. "Yusei. Did you happen to duel someone at the Duel Dome a few nights ago?"

"... Yes." Yusei admitted, before lowering his head and closing his eyes. "I'm sure the witch also has one." As the other adults were surprised by his words, Manjoume 'tsk-ed' and crossed his arms.

"I don't know what's the matter with these birthmarks of yours, but I do know one thing. Look around." The group's eyes observed their surroundings. People injured, asphalt split in two, buildings damaged. "That wasn't simple Solid Vision. That monster's attack actually hurt people and things. And that magic blasted us away."

"H-How is this possible? How did she do that?" The old man exclaimed, and Manjoume...

"I don't know." _The__ damage __became __real, __just __like __during __a __Duel __of __Darkness, __but __it __didn't __have __the __same __feeling._ Hopefully that meant that one wouldn't risk their souls as well fighting her, but... "I say this to you. If you want to duel her, you must be prepared to risk your life." Neo Domino City was in for a rough ride if experience had taught him anything.

_To be continued_

_In the next chapter..._

The duel cup gets underway and after some shocking revelations, Manjoume will be in for one hip of trouble as he takes on his first Rising Duel ever! Stay tuned!


	4. Fourth Thunder

**New Thunder**

**Chapter4: Manjoume Thunder! Riding Duel!**

"Hmmm..." He outstretched his hand, lingering it over the leather deck holder for a few seconds before shifting it to its nearby companion and after a few more seconds pulling it back. "Still can't decide."

"ANIKIIIIII!" He winced at the explosion or sound, courtesy of his gathered monster card spirits. "YOU'RE KILLING US HERE!"

"JUST TAKE ONE AND GO, DAMN IT! BOSS!"

"Alright, alright! Stop shouting!" He went back to staring but still couldn't decide. "Ghh... I'm going to regret this." He picked up his briefcase and started stuffing all the prepared decks inside. "I'll take you all with me and decide on the spot. That good?"

"... Aniki, you're the best!"

"We're all going! Yahoo!" He would have the loudest fans in the dome. Problem being, only he would be able to hear them.

"... Well, fans are still f-SPIRIT OF BREEZE!"

"Tee-hee! Silly me!" He groaned while he continued, observing in the meanwhile his signature black coat, resting on the bed.

"It's been a while since I wore the whole get up, huh?"

-Break-

"... I still think this is crazy."

"But Manjoume-niisan said it was okay. Aaaah, he's so dreaaaaaamy..."

"RUA!" Ruka shouted at her twin who was in the process of embarrassing her. "I NEVER SAID THAT!"

"You should, though. You got to start working on it." The little crowd of friends laughed (Yusei smiled) as the kid struck a pose, the make up making the whole thing even more ridiculous. For anyone not knowing about it, though, it'd work. "Want me to nudge it for you?"

"DON'T YOU DARE-"

"Good morning." Manjoume let his presence become known, stopping everyone cold. "... Get rid of the make-up, Rua."

"Aw, it took me so much..."

"Good morning, Manjoume-san." Yusei had already gotten used to using the honorific, something that Manjoume was really thankful for.

"Nii-san." Ruka blushed as she greeted him, then noticed his clothes. She had never seen that coat on him before. All black and dark purple.

"Wow! Those clothes look so cool, Manjoume-san!" Rua declared, sparkling eyes and all. Manjoume chuckled. It was only natural. He was the Black Thunder, after all.

"Sonny, what's with the briefcase?" Yannagi didn't have Yusei's same manners, which caused him to frown. Nonetheless, he presented the briefcase and opened it. "Ooooh!"

"That's... A lot of decks." Himuro observed as he stared at the twelve leather card protectors stacked one next to the other inside the briefcase.

"Manjoume-san, why did you bring this many?" Rua asked as he observed how each one was decorated with a small symbol engraving: a sword, a robot head... Something that he couldn't understand which looked like an eye standing on top of a pole.

"I decided to prepare some new decks for the cup but I ended up making too many and couldn't decide which one to bring." He closed it again when saw Rua extending his arm towards one of the decks. "So, I decided to bring them all. I'll just use a different deck in each duel."

"You couldn't decide? A duelist should duel with his favorite cards when dueling seriously, right?" Rua asked as he crossed his arms behind his head.

"... Let's just say that each of these decks contains some of my favorite cards." He sighed and then winced as from his cards erupted a vortex of multicolored spirits and a cacophony of voices expressing affection and gratitude.

Ruka giggled as she observed Manjoume's reaction.

That little yellow card spirit was really annoying him. Almost like he wasn't alone. "Well, Yusei, Manjoume-san, shall we go?"

"Lead the way, Yusei." Manjoume shushed the spirits with a wave of his hand and settled down, allowing the marked duelist to walk in front of him and Rua. "And Rua, get rid of that stuff before we get there. Ruka doesn't wear any."

"Well, she should. She's got to be working on her looks if she wants to-"

"RUAAAAAAAAAA!"

-Break-

"So... We each get into one of these?" Manjoume nodded in answer to Rua's question as they were presented with a corridor with nine doors.

"Yes. We're probably going to be raised on the stage, appearing from below the ground. It's a common scenic trick for a good entrance." He opened one of the three remaining doors which didn't have a red light shining above it, between two occupied ones, checking for anything unusual inside the small room. As he did so, the loud sounds typical of a cheering crowd echoed. "Seems like they're starting."

"Yes!" Rua opened a door in a flash, giving the two older duelist a last grin. "See you upstairs!" He then closed the door behind him. Yusei nodded to Manjoume before getting into the last remaining free door.

"... Game start."

-Break-

"There's only one King... And that is me!" The catchphrase ended his introduction, and heated up the crowd. Jack then lowered his gaze towards the referee-slash-banana hair-slash-commentator. "Who are the Duelists that I'll be fighting against?"

"The Duelists who received an invitation to compete for their dream match with the King..." The strange man trusted his arm and stretched left finger towards the ground in front of him. "Are right here!"

"Ah! We're coming up, we're coming up! Oooh, Red Demon's!" The newfound voice of Rua and the crowd's augmented volume told him that they were indeed coming up. Also, he would be laying eyes on his opponents pretty soon.

"... Impressive." The Duel Dome was a nice stadium, indeed, the various giant screens displaying their headshots. He didn't understand why there was some kind of motorcycling circle as well, though. He then looked at the podium behind them, where Jack was standing beside a motorcycle. For his entrance, maybe?

He started looking at his other opponents. The guy in armor was too flashy for his taste while the big guy looked pretty collected. The girl... He stopped on her. "It's her..." The photograph in the file was outdated but the eyes were the same. The gaze was different, though, much to his surprise. Something had changed with her, but... He couldn't hear himself think. What was the crowd murmuring about?

"Everyone in the audience!" He turned in the direction of the booming voice. The big guy had stolen the mic from the commentator. The crowd quieted down somewhat. "My name is Bommer! As a Duelist standing here, I want to ask the same question that everyone is thinking! And this is my answer!" The dark skinned man pointed his left index finger sharply in Yusei's direction. "This man is chosen as a Duelist under the same condition as us. "Only the cards matter. It doesn't matter whether or not he has a Marker, he is the same as us. Anyone standing here has nothing to be ashamed of. In other words, those of you looking at him through those boring gazes are truly a bother!"

Ah, so they were complaining about Yusei. He sighed. Mindless idiots. This city was full of common prejudice, it seemed. Then, the sound of clapping. Godwin, sitting in a throne on a nearby podium. His image was displayed on the screens, now. The crowd followed suit. Bommer bowed in his direction and then walked back to his supposed position, handing the mic back to the referee on the way.

"Thank you very much for the encouraging words. Bommer-kun." It was Godwin's turn to speak. "All of those reasons are why I have prepared this stadium for you. I am Rex Godwin, the director of Neo Domino City's Public Maintenance Security." Acronyms werent his thing, it seemed. "Also, I have the great honor of overseeing this great competition of Duels, with the finest gathered! Also... To Duelists, social status and the gap between the rich and the poor are irrelevant. True equality is right here!" He finished by trusting his right arm in the air, the crowd going wild again. "Also, we have a special event to add to this manifestation which will involve you that have gathered here to watch!"

_He's putting me on the spot, hm?_ Manjoume guessed that he was announcing the Tag Duel. Announcing it on the very first day without declaring when it'll take place was a good way to make sure people came back each and every day.

"Among the participants, there's one individual that made this request of the King, which he accepted. During the Cup, the two will face off in a Tag Team Duel and choose their partners from the audience!" As expected the crowd went wild at that, even if some murmurs about 'It better not be the trash'. Idiots. "A young prodigy which studied in the prestigious duel academia and never lost a Duel during his tenure as a pro. Manjoume Jun!"

"... Right on the spot." Manjoume smirked, amused as the crowd cheered again. He handed his bag to 'Ruka' and walked towards the referee who looked baffled as yet another person stole the mic from his hands.

"I thank Director Godwin for the passionate although incomplete introduction. Listen up and listen well!" He turned sharply from Godwin to the crowd, his face displayed again on the giant screens. "This is the first time you people from Domino City hear my name, so listen closely and learn how to correctly call my name! 1!" He trusted his free hand into the air, holding up one finger. "10! 100! 1000!" Then back down and back up three other times, holding up one more finger with each trust. "Manjoume Thunder!" With the last one, he trusted up his whole open hand as part of the crowd chorused and the others shouted in surprise and outrage-wait a moment.

He observed the crowd as he lowered his hand again. Indeed, someone had chorused but that was impossible. After the earthquake the city had been pretty much isolated from the rest of the world for what concerned dueling, to the point that Synchro monsters, having been born in Neo Domino City, had only recently started getting diffused in the rest of the world and for now that only meant the rest of the country. It was impossible for a crowd to know of his being in that cup to begin with, figures a crowd of his fans who travelled to get to the stadium. How did that happen?

In the meanwhile, Rua wondered if he had been quick enough to delete that post on that dueling forum. It had only been up for an hour but still...

-Break-

"Hehehe... He's surprised, aibou (partner)." Said partner only responded with his unique way of speaking as they observed the television screen. "He always gets more pumped up when he has an audience. Hope he likes the present. We were lucky to read that post before it got deleted."

"Your meal, sir." He turned around and his mouth went watery as the smell filled his nostrils. He thanked the waitress, said his thanks for the meal and then dug in.

"Hmmm! So good!" Trusting the fork in the air, he grinned at the television. "Go, Thunder!"

-Break-

"Hmm... Whatever." He returned the microphone to the referee who sighed in relief. No more specials. That meant that he could get underway with the Cup itself. He cleared his throat.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let us discover the line ups for the first round!" The screen showed s tournament bracket with portraits shifting continuously. "The participants are nine, so one of them is going to have to fight more battles than the others! Aaaand..." The portraits stopped. "Here they are!"

"... Good." That placement suited him just fine. The match ups were, in the bracket order: Bommer versus 'Ruka', Yusei versus the guy in the stupid french getup, him versus the cloaked guy, and the guy with glasses would duel whoever won between the guy in armor and... "Izayoi Aki."He whispered as he observed the girl. Not even a reaction.

The way the Duels had been drawn, he could meet either Yusei or Rua only in the final match and he would fight the redhead only if she won both of her duels. He wondered what kind of skills could a hikikomori possess, though. _Although, I've been an hikikomori too, once. Only three months, though..._ He shook his head. He couldn't judge neither her personality nor her skills until he knew more about her. He would have to watch her duels closely and read the school's file on her.

"Contestants, please proceed to the waiting area! We're gonna prepare the arena and then call you up! The first match will be Bommer VS Ruka!"

-Break-

"I'm so excited! I'm going to fight that guy! He looks strong, doesn't he?"

"Physically? Indeed." Rua laughed at Manjoume's joke while the former pro rolled his eyes as he stood leaning back against the wall.

"Yusei, I didn't forget what you told me!" Rua then turned his attention to the marked Duelist, sitting in front of him on another divanet. "I won't duel selfishly anymore!" Yusei nodded in approval.

"If you believe in your cards, they'll answer." Manjoume instinctively frowned. That way of talking reminded him of someone. He'd better focus on Rua, though. Should he or not? He did allow him to duel because he wanted him to lose quickly for Ruka's sake, but... He sighed.

"What about what I taught you?" He said and Rua turned in his direction.

"Obviously, I'll also pay attention to my opponent's cards. Well, I hope hehas cards I know about..." Manjoume smiled and then patted him on his head.

"No one can memorize or know about any single card in existence. Not even me." Manjoume continued. "You mostly learn as you play. Never forget that."

"... I won't! Well, I'm going!" Now beaming, the cross-dressing boy ran out of the room.

"'She' is quite fond of you."

"Of us both." Manjoume shot back to Yusei. "Let's just hope the encouragement doesn't actually makes 'her' win." Silence followed. "... Yusei, what do you think of this tournament?"

"I'd prefer if I hadn't been forced to be in it. Also..." Yusei gripped his right forearm. "I originally came to the city because I had a matter to settle with Jack, but after what happened last time..."

"I get it." That presence that scared the monster spirits, the Red Dragon, had been summoned because Yusei and Jack, two individuals with a dragon birthmark, had dueled. Only, last time they were alone. In a stadium full if people... "Is Godwin purposely trying to summon that thing?"

"... Maybe." Yusei admitted. "But he won't be able to, if that's true." Seeing Manjoume's inquiring expression, he continued. "According to Yannagi, there should be five of us and five dragon cards. Without all five, it isn't possible to really summon it."

"... That makes me more at ease." After all, what were the chances of all five Signers being in the same place at the same time if they could have been born anywhere in the world? The thought was ludicrous. "Ruka's duel is starting." He turned to the screen in the room. It was strange how Manjoume hadn't started to believe in 'fate likes to screw people up' yet.

-Break-

"Off to a good start, sir."

"Indeed, Jaeger." Godwin observed as he and his second in command walked to the observatory.

"Though... I worry, is it safe to get one of our assassins out of the tournament so early?" Jaeger asked.

"Are you referring to Shira's match up?" Jaeger nodded.

"I can understand the director's reasoning. Maybe a very strong opponent would be needed to awaken the Signers but the fact rests that he's not under our orders. We selected Shira and Bommer for the same purpose and losing either of them to a wild card is... Troubling."

"That's true." Godwin nodded before smiling. "But, Jaeger, did you know something?"

"Huh? What, sir?"

"The young Manjoume doesn't even have the notion of 'Riding Duel'." Godwin said. Jaeger raised an eyebrow, confused... Then he got it.

"Ahahahahahah!" He started laughing maniacally. "Good one, director! Really clever!"

"Not our fault if Riding Duels are only practiced in Neo Domino City at the moment, right?"

-Break-

"It was a nice duel."

"Yeah, but I still lost..." Rua pouted as he finally got back in his own clothes and Ruka could get rid of the getup.

"Don't beat yourself up like that, Rua. You did good." Manjoume said, the male twin turning in his direction. "You've gotten stronger, Rua."

"Really?" The ex-pro nodded. "Yatta! Manjoume-san praised me!"

"Rua, pipe down..." Ruka said, annoyed.

"You sure you're okay, Ruka?" Tenpei was a bit worried. Ruka had gotten a very strong headache during he duel. The girl nodded.

"Manjoume-san?" The group turned around to find Mikage standing behind them. She bowed. "Good day, everyone. Manjoume-san, we were wondering about your D-Wheel."

"... My what, now?" Manjoume answered, which made everyone in the room look at him strangely. "What are you looking at?"

"O-Okay. We can supply you with a spare one for your Riding Duel then." Mikage continued, scribbling something on her pad. Manjoume just stared back, confused. A terrible suspect was building up in everyone's mind.

"... Manjoume." Yusei forgot the honorific. He couldn't berate him, though, because for once he could actually read his emotions. He looked... Worried? "Have you ever heard the words 'Riding Duel' before?"

"... Yes, actually. But I don't know what that means." Yusei actually facepalmed.

"What about 'Speed World? Nii-san!"

"And 'Speed Magic'? Sonny, you're joking, right?"

"M-Manjoume-sensei doesn't..."

"Hey! Will you stop doing that and tell me what's going on?" Everyone slowly turned to Yusei, at that. The Signer sighed.

-Break-

"... ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" This time, everyone in shouting range covered their ears. "I HAVE TO DUEL WHILE DRIVING A FREAKING MOTORCYCLE?"

"D-Dueling Wheel..." Tenpei tentatively tried to say.

"IT HAS TWO WHEELS, YOU SIT ON IT AND IT'S NOT A BYCICLE! NO MATTER THE NAME, IT STILL IS A MOTORCYCLE!" Manjoume grasped his head, incredulous. What was wrong with that city?

"After Speed World gets set, the D-Wheel goes into auto-pilot. The real problem is that you won't be able to use any Magic Cards during the Duel... Because you don't possess any." Yusei observed, which served to calm Manjoume down.

"... I'll manage." He declared, opening his briefcase. He had the deck for the first round, after all. He picked one holder out of it and then handed it to Ruka after closing it. "This deck doesn't rely heavily on Magic Cards. I'll use this."

"Still, the opponent is gonna have an enormous advantage over you..."

"You think I don't know that?" Rua cringed at the angry tone. "Keep the obvious observations to yourself!" _Damn it! I should have researched this the very first time I heard the words 'Riding Duel'!_

"Well... I'll ask the staff to prepare a D-Wheel for you. Please come by the garage before your duel starts." Mikage excused herself. _This is strange, though. How could the director overlook something this big?_

"... Stop looking at me like that. If I have to drive a motorcycle, I'll drive a motorcycle. Now, I'd like to see the ongoing match." _It's the hikikomori against the knight guy._ That said, Manjoume turned around and started to walk back in the direction of the waiting room.

"Yusei... Do you think Manjoume-san is going to be alright?" Rua asked Yusei, looking at him like a sad puppy.

"... I don't know." Yusei crossed his arms over his chest. "I have been in situations where I couldn't use Magic Cards, but this is like not having any in your deck. That's another thing entirely."

"... Nii-san." The twins stared at Manjoume's retreating back, worry evident in both of their eyes.

-Break-

"... Card on a stick, this just gets better and better." Manjoume cursed as the outcome of the duel was displayed on the screen. A very sever series of burns for Jill de Lanceglove or something, an audience turned into a mob which only needed pitchforks and a way to not get horribly maimed and a hikikomori which was revealed as... "The Black Rose Witch."

"... That makes three of us." Yusei observed and Manjoume cursed.

"How can this be? Maybe the two things are related?" Still, right now he had other things to think about. His own problems. He stood up. "I'm going to the garage. Sorry that I'll miss seeing your Duel. Good luck."

"I'll be seeing you later." Yusei commented before looking for his opponent who wasn't anywhere to be found in the room.

-Break-

"Hmm... It will do."

"Are you sure? There are newer ones..." Manjoume shook his head.

"It's not only about old or new, Mikage. It also about fitting in." Manjoume passed a hand over the front of the bike, removing a bit of dust as he observed it. "This one fits me perfectly... Or will, after a bit of redecoration. I take you can give it a quick paint-job?"

"If you're sure... We'll get it ready for the Duel. And yes, that is possible." Mikage made a sign in the direction of the workers, who started pulling away the D-Wheel. When they were finally alone, she sighed. "Manjoume-san, I'm sorry for all this."

"Don't be. It wasn't your duty to organize this. You're the King's aide, not the director's."

"Still, this damages Atlas-sama as well. All his Duels have always been Riding Duels. If you are to be his opponent... Hmm." Mikage sighed as she thought of what would Jack say.

"... Mikage-san, can I ask you something?" Mikage nodded. "Why do you respect and admire Jack that much when he treats you like dirt whenever he can't have what he wants?"

"Manjoume-san! That's-"

"Answer the question, please." Manjoume cut her off curtly and crossed his arms in front of his chest. She wouldn't be getting out of this by going on another rant about him.

"... He's perfect. A true King in everything. Brains, looks, dueling." Mikage began, lowering her gaze. "And he pretends that same perfection by the people he surrounds himself with."

"... Let me tell you, that won't make him any friends." He recalled a certain period of his life. "Believe me, I know."

"That's not a concern. All he's ever wanted is to better himself, to perfection. I find that's admirable." She then raised her head again. "Also, by staying near him I feel the need to perfect myself as well." She then chuckled. "I even started dueling again. It was fun taking back my old deck and buying new cards for it."

"Hmm..." While that probably wasn't the best reason to start dueling again, he could tell she was enjoying it. "So, it's because he's perfect, huh?"

"My turn for a question, then." Mikage was the one who crossed her arms this time, under her chest. "Why were you so rude to that kid? He was just worried about you."

"... Yeah, that was pretty uncool of me." Manjoume sighed as he thought back to the exchange. He had been rude to say the least. He had let everything get to him. "I guess part of me instinctively wanted to find a let out, while the other part didn't want him to worry about me." Mikage's unchanged gaze translated as 'elaborate'. "As you said I'm supposed to be the one they look up to, what they want to become. I can't let myself be seen as weak. Such a big error... It was already a big blow. I couldn't let him also worry."

"... You're much kinder and more considerate that you let on, you know?" Mikage admitted with a smile. Manjoume blushed. "Although you're right in wanting to defend their image of you, it's also okay to let them worry about you. Making mistakes is only human and I think it makes you easier to relate to. It didn't destroy your image, it just showed, liked I bet you teach in class, that you never stop learning and that even champions have to also keep themselves informed."

"... So the King's perfection makes him hard to relate to?" He smirked, knowing from her surprised and then irritated expression that he had caught her off guard. She didn't listen to her own words, it seemed, or maybe... He had an idea. "Hey, don't look at me like that... I know. What do you say I look at your deck and give you some pointers?"

"... I don't have it with me." Mikage confessed. Manjoume waved his right index finger at her.

"Bad. Lesson 1: a Duelist always carries his deck with him." He walked past her and laid a hand on her left shoulder as he did. "Remember to bring it, tomorrow."

"And what makes you think you'll still be here, tomorrow? I cant exactly meet with people in the crowd." A stab for a stab. He really liked Mikage.

"Hey. I'm Manjoume the Black Thunder. I'll find a way."

-Break-

"It's about to begin..." Ruka was now sitting with her brother, Tenpei, Himuro and Yannagi in the crowd, which was murmuring among them for the first real duel of the story-the first riding duel of the tournament. And even if Manjoume had vehemently told Rua to mind his own business and by reflection everyone else, she couldn't help but be worried about him. "... Think he's gonna be okay?"

"... I doubt it's going to be easy for him." Himuro commented, arms crossed and eyes on the track below. "Even if he's an undefeated ex-pro... A riding duel without possessing a single spell card is going to be difficult to win. His opponent is going to have a great advantage on him. Even more so if he's not new to Riding Duels either. The psychological factor is also going to weight heavily on him."

"... Manjoume-nii-san..." Ruka murmured, worried about Manjoume as well. It wasn't going to be a pretty duel. "Rua, what do you-Huh?" Turning to her right, she found no trace of her twin brother. "Where did he go?"

-Break-

"... There." Manjoume had just put his deck in the motorcyc... D-Wheel's card holder, after making the last late minute adjustments. Anything to give him some kind of advantage. He then put on the provided helmet-black, of course- and got on his borrowed mount. Now, as Mikage had told him, the damn thing would go into auto-pilot once the riding duel started. Now, though, there was the problem of getting out on the field. "Now, Thunder... What will it be? Slowly leading your motorcycle out or... Trying to ride a motorcycle for the first time for a great entrance?"

-Break-

"Everybody listen! The next one will be the long-awaited Riding Duel!" The crowd went wild as the MC talked, the anticipation and excitation almost palpable. "And one of the fortune cup D-Wheelers... The Reviving Shinigami... Shira!" From one of the dome's exits, clouded with a solid vision generated purple haze, out came a big motorcycle, rode by a figure clouded in a black cloak with red plumage. The crowd cheered the mysterious stranger on as he landed on the track and slowed down as he approached the starting line.

"And his opponent... The undefeated prodigy from Duel Academia! Manjoume Black Thundeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer!"

-Break-

"... Yeah, right." He gripped hard the accelerator and twisted.

-Break-

"T-There he is!" Ruka gasped as out of an explosion of black smoke came Manjoume, still dressed in his normal clothes, riding a long, old style D-Wheel with a thunder-shaped yellow stripe on both sides, an onyx helmet covering his head. "H-He seems to be okay..." Then he landed. "Huh."

"W-What is this?" The MC gasped mimicked by probably the whole crowd, cheers dieing down as they looked at Manjoume's D-Wheel starting to spin on itself as it landed.

"AAAAAAAAAAAH!" The Black Thunder screamed as the damn thing spiraled out of control, heading for the side of the dome. _Darn me and my exhibitionism! I'm going to crash-Eh?_ Manjoume suddenly found his blood going to his head as he suddenly was upside down. The curved sides of the track had acted as a slide for the D-Wheel. He screamed again under the paralyzed gazes of the now silent stadium as he spiraled through the air... And then landed. Perfectly. In perfect position. On his starting line.

Perfect. Terrible. Silence was what greeted Manjoume as his brain rebooted and registered what had just transpired. He didn't do anything, though. He just waited for something else to happen. He didn't dare move. Nobody did. Ruka had slowly covered her face with her hands.

"... I-Incredibleeeee! The Black Thunder makes a spectacular entrance! With a battle cry!" If the MC didn't believe his own words, he didn't give any sign of that. The crowd just clapped and cheered, accepting what had just happened for a show. Manjoume relaxed. He hoped the thing would start soon. "It's finally time to Duel! Field Magic! Speed World! Set on!"

'Duel mode. Auto-pilot. Stand-by.' Manjoume heard the electronic voice come from his D-Wheel as the screen started displaying an electronic Duel Field. He raised his head as the dome got filled with violet light, signaling the activation of the field magic.

"The field has been set to Speed World. The only magic that can be activated here, is Speed Magic!" Manjoumed tsk-ed under his breath as he then turned to his opponent. He could only see the lower part of his face and his hands, covered in riding gloves. What was up with that getup? As he observed him, the 'Shinigami' smiled wryly at him and played with the accelerator.

"... Eager to start, aren't you?" Manjoume 'hmph'-ed and then focused on the screen and the track in front of them. He started sweating a little. The thing may start going into auto-pilot but he would have to stay on top of it while dueling. Good thing a wind-shield had appeared. That would at least keep his cards from flying away.

"The fated start is now at the countdown!" He felt the engine of his D-Wheel start, the vehicle trembling under his grip. He gulped. He hadn't thought about it that much to not get nervous, but now that he was faced with the situation...

_I'm going to Duel while riding a freaking motorcycle!_

-Break-

"He's nervous. He's really nervous." Ruka murmured, holding her hands. She could just feel it. Manjoume, usually the epitome of coolness (in both senses, according to him) and always level-headed (well, at least when he didn't get angry or irritated) was currently a nervous wreck.

"... He's going to be alright." Ruka's head shot to the side with speed, revealing Rua, standing on the steps, hands balled into fists, gaze unmoved from Manjoume's figure.

"Rua! Where did you go?"

"... I had to talk with Manjoume-san." Rua admitted as he turned to his sister and motioned for the others to stood so that he could sit. "We just have to believe in him. He's going to be alright."

"... Why are you talking about it like it's a matter of life or death?" Tenpei whispered under his breath. While it was true that it wasn't a matter of life or death, for Manjoume there were many other things implicated into the whole thing.

-Break-

"Now! Riding Duel!" But Manjoume was indeed, at the moment, also fearing for his life as the countdown beeped again and again, counting the seconds separating him from the... "Acceleration!"

"!" He shouted out loud as the D-Wheel took off, immediately gaining speed, his world suddenly becoming very very blurry and his body being plastered against the D-Wheel's seat. _HOLYCARP!HOLYCARP!HOLYCARP!_ Educated even in his thoughts, Manjoume cursed as he tried to look at everything but in front of him. He tried to focus on something, anything that at least LOOKED still. He turned to his left... "Huh?" To see his opponent discarding his cloak.

"This is the moment you've all been waiting for!" The person revealed was a strange individual in a very biker looking get up with sunglasses and bright red hair. "Enjo Mukuro has entered the field!"

"... Wasn't he named Shira?" Manjoume observed.

"This is quite a surprise! And from under that cape appears..." He could still hear the referee thanks to the communicator in his helmet. "The one who bet his life in a Duel against the King! Former D-Wheeler... Enjo Mukuro!"

"... So he isn't the one who's supposed to duel me?" Maybe that would make them cancel the duel. That would be better.

"Hey! Bocchama (rich boy)!" The red-head suddenly pointed rudely at him, which ticked him off a bit. "Your opponent will be me!" He then retreated the hand and pointed at himself with a gloved thumb. "I'll show you my True Riding Duel!"

"... Is that so." He commented, muttering the words in barely more than a whisper-Why did he take his eyes off the road?

"How's that, Thunder? As a D-Wheeler, will you accept me, Enjo Mukuro, as a challenge?" The boisterous man continued. And then...

While he was wrong about Manjoume being a D-Wheeler-just holding onto the thing for dear life was almost too much for him-he had used the right words. "... Very well." He replied with a smile, straightening himself and finally holding his head up. "Motorcycles or not, Manjoume Thunder never refuses a challenge!"

"Umm... I... Ooh... Uhm..." MC was clearly confused. What was he supposed to do? He wasn't one of the contestants but stopping the Duel would ruin all the atmosphere that had been building up. He then noticed the small screen connected to the director's room lighting up.

"It's fine. Let's see how this plays out." Godwin declared with a nod, which made the confused commentator lighten up.

"Let's see what happensssssssssss!" He shouted into the mic, raising one arm to the sky. "Continue the Duel!" The crowd's reaction was of cheering.

-Break-

"Nii-san, why?" Ruka shouted, since she couldn't believe her ears. Manjoume's and Enjo's voices and moves were displayed for the stadium to see. "You could have just refused!"

-Break-

A siren and the word 'Go' appeared on the maxi-screens, signaling the start of the Duel. "I'll make the first move! Draw!" Enjo declared, which suited Manjoume just fine. He would start getting an inkling of what exactly a Riding Duel entailed. He only had the basics that Yusei had told him, which he had repeated like a mantra in his mind. The only field spell was Speed World. You could only use Speed Magic. At each end phase, both players gain a Speed Counter that can be used for Speed Magic. Whenever you receive damage, you lose a Speed Counter. The Maximum number of Speed Counter one can possess is twelve. Though, he had no idea about the strategies Duelists could implement in such an environment. "And from my hand, I'll summon Burning Skull Head!" A bright blue light suddenly shone on the left of Mukuro's D-Wheel, which condensed in the figure of his monster: a giant skull enveloped in flames (Atk:1000). "I set three cards face down. Turn End!"

"... My turn!" Manjoume declared, observing the field and the Speed Counters going up on both his screen and the bigger ones around the dome. "Draw!" Plucking the first card out of his deck, he brought it to his eyes. He eyed warily the three set down cards and the monster. _... I don't know that monster. Why did we let Neo Domino City be this isolated? And why didn't I investigate?_ "... I summon Gladiator Beast Retiari!" With a swift move, Manjoume placed the card he had just drawn on the opportune slot. His eyes flew to his left, observing as the reptilian looking monster, wearing armor and holding a trident appeared on the left of his own D-Wheel (Atk: 1200).

"Oooh! Manjoume is going to make the first move! Retiari's attack is higher than Burning Skull Head!" While the MC stated the obvious, Manjoume thought about those three cards. Again, he didn't know what kind of cards they could be...

"Battle phase!" But he wouldn't solve anything by sitting idle and stay on the defensive. "Retiari! Attack!" The monster gripped his weapon tight and jumped high, descending towards Mukuro's Monster.

"Trap, activate!" Mukuro declared as one of his set cards raised. "Zero Guard!" Manjoume observed silently as the Burning Skull Head's attack got reduced to 0. "On my field, I choose a monster to set its attack power to 0, and prevents my monster from destruction in battle this turn!"

"... Suit yourself. Sea Warrior's Trident!" Retiari's attack bludgeoned his opponent, who spiraled a bit and hit Mukuro's bike, releasing an explosion of flames. His Life Points descended to 2800.

"Ooooh! Enjo Mukuro took the first hit and got damaged by 1200 points!"

-Break-

"He took damage to protect his monster... Maybe he needs it for a combo?" Tenpei observed. Rua nodded.

"Probably. But... Heh?" Rua's eyes widened as he observed one of the giant screens, displaying... "That guy's Speed Counters didn't drop?"

-Break-

"Trap Card! Death Accel!" Another one of Mukuro's trap cards revealed itself. "When I receive damage in battle, for every 500 points I receive in battle, I get 1 Speed Counter!" The crowd cheered as they saw Enjo's speed counters rise, along with his speed. "Do you see it? This is Enjo Mukuro's revival! You can say this is the strongest Speed Accel Deck!"

"Boastful, aren't you?" _'He used that trap to protect his monster. That means that his strategy needs it on the field. In that case... Ah. Damn it.'_ The card he would have wanted to summon was currently in his hand. That meant that he couldn't use it with Retiari's special effect. _... Better put up a stronger defense, then._ "At the end of the Battle Phase, I activate Retiari's Monster Effect!" Manjoume declared, raising his voice as the cameras did a close up of his helmet-clad head. "If Retiari battled this turn, I can shuffle it back into my deck and special summon another 'Gladiator Beast' card from my deck!"

"Aaah! Manjoume reveals his strategy! His deck is a 'Gladiator Beasts' Deck!"

-Break-

"Gladiator Beasts... Deck?" Yannagi repeated, confused.

"The Gladiator Beasts are a series of card whose effects activate when they're special summoned by the effect of another Gladiator Beast Card." Himuro explained, nodding to himself in approval. "With this deck, he may have a chance at winning. The Gladiator Beasts unleash many effects that are usually mainly possessed by Trap and Spell cards."

"Sugoi(Incredible)..." Rua murmured. Those kind of cards existed?

-Break-

"I special summon from my deck Gladiator Beast Hoplomus, in Defense Position!" Putting his deck back into place, the automated mechanism of the D-Wheel already shuffling it, he placed the selected card face-up, horizontally, in the middle of his field. A fully armored bipedal rhino materialized by his D-Wheel's side, standing on his back legs before kneeling down and crossing his arms over his chest(Def 2100). "Monster effect, activates! When Hoplomus is special summoned by the effect of another Gladiator Beast, his Defense becomes 2400!" And as described, the Gladiator Beast's defense grew of 300 points. Following that... "I place one card face-down. Turn End!"

"Aaaah! Manjoume Thunder has managed to deal heavy damage in the first turn and then fortified his defenses with a monster with a high defense! Will Enjo Mukuro be able to get past this insurmountable wall?" Mukuro simply ignored the MC as he drew one more card.

"Speed Spell, Summon Speeder! Activate!" Manjoume narrowed his eyes at the 'Speed Spell' part as the card appeared in front of the D-Wheel. "If I have four or more Speed Counters, I can Special Summon a Level 4 or Lower monster. Come forward, Skull Vase!" From the Magic Card's ejected what could only be described as a pot with half a skeleton sticking out of it (Atk 800). "Then I release Skull Vase and Burning Skull Head..." The two bone-based monsters disappeared in streaks of light that joined together right above Enjo's D-Wheel. "To Advance Summon Skull Flame!"

Manjoume's raised his head to witness the apparition of the zombie-type monsters, clad in purple robes and a cloak of flames which disappeared as it made his entrance. "... An Atk of 2600!"

"Because I released Skull Vase to Advance Summon, I can draw another card." Done so, Mukuro then turned his head in the direction of Manjoume. "Battle!" As his owner's laughed, Skull Flame shot towards Hoplomus and clawed him with his right arm, in an upward movement. Manjoume instinctively covered winced as his monster cried out and exploded in a shower of gold sparks.

"Enjo Mukuro used a skillful Speed Spell combination attack! Although Manjoume Thunder took no damage because his monster was in defense position, he's now faced with a powerful 2600 Atk Monster!"

"From here on out... Take a good look, everyone." Mukuro shot his hand to the side, activating another of the cards he had set. "Permanent trap Speed Booster, Activate!" Manjoume's eyes widened as something appeared around the exhaust pipes of Mukuro's bike.

"What the... Ah!" He raised one hand as the newly appeared reactor engines suddenly start spouting flames, Mukuro gaining even more speed and putting even more distance between the two of them.

"This is the real face of the Speed Accel Deck! When I have more Speed Counters than my opponent, only then I can activate this trap! During your turn, I can negate a number of monster attacks equal to the difference in number of our Speed Counters. And during my turn, it does 100 Damage per difference in our Speed Counters!" Manjoume 'tsk-ed' as he swerved his head to the giant screen they were currently passing by. He had two, Mukuro had four. "Speed Booster's effect activates!"

"... Damn it." Manjoume cursed as the engines suddenly shot out missiles that homed right for his position, hitting the ground around him. He suddenly felt something gripping his stomach as his D-Wheel swayed right and left because of the shock. He hoped it was only because of scenic effect. He spared his life points, now reduced to 3800, a single glance while he observed his Speed Counters go down to 1.

"There's no one out there that can match me in Speed!" With an exaggerated move, the red-head set another card in his Trap/Spell zone. "I set one card face down. Turn end." He then turned his head back, observing the distance he had put between him and Manjoume. "Ahahahah! How's that, bocchama? The Riding Duel of this Enjo Mukuro!"

"... Shut up! You're noisy! It's my turn!" _Again, the card I need it's in my hand. I got to send both of them back to the Deck._ Manjoume drew a card, observing his hand. "I Summon Gladiator Beast Bestiari!" With a gesture, an armored humanoid bird with green feathers appeared on Manjoume's D-Wheel's right (Atk 1500). "Then, since I have a Gladiator Beast on the Field, I Special Summon Test Tiger!" Another monster, this one a normal looking tiger dressed in armour. "I activate his Special Effect! I tribute Test Tiger to activate Murmillo's effect, shuffling it into my deck!"

The two monsters disappeared in flashes of light as Manjoume searched for the card he needed. "I Special Summon Gladiator Beast Spartacus!" In a flash of light, a bipedal dinosaur wearing brown battle armor and wielding a giant battleax appear with a roar (Atk 2200). "By his effect, I select an Equip Spell Card from my deck and add it to my hand. Of course I can't use it in this duel."

"Heh. He can't hold a candle to Skull Flame!"

"Trap, Activate! Double Tag Team!" Manjoume continued, ignoring Mukuro's interruption. "When I special summon a Gladiator Beast, I can special summon another from my Deck or Hand! And I choose Gladiator Beast Murmillo from my hand!" A third Gladiator Beast appeared in the same turn, this one an armored humanoid blue fish (800 Atk). "Contact Fusion!"

-Break-

"Ooooh! Contact Fusion?" He spouted out through a full mouth. No one seemed to be bothered by the fact that he had been in there for hours, watching TV and eating... Well, maybe the cook.

-Break-

"Come forth! Gladiator Beast Gaiodiaz!" In a flash of light, the two monster touched each other and disappeared, their sparkles of light recomposing to reveal a taller, more muscular bipedal brown dinosaur, brandishing an enormous golden staff, his armor black and golden (Atk 2600). "... I set down one card. Turn End."

"Heh. Good move, bocchama." Mukuro commented.

-Break-

"Heh? Why didn't he attack?" Rua exclaimed and Ruka sighed. "He could have at least got that monster out of the way!"

"Because of Speed Booster's effect. He would have just negated his attack." The sister explained, and Rua slapped his forehead. Of course.

"Indeed. Also, if the Gladiator Beast gets destroyed in battle, he can't use his effect." Himuro commented. "Manjoume's main objective this turn was to send back to his deck those two monsters."

-Break-

"My turn. I draw!" Mukuro declared as the Speed Counters went up again, reaching 6 for him and 3 for Manjoume. As the solid vision materialized, Mukuro chuckled. "Turn end. Speed Booster's Effect Activates!"

"Tsk." Manjoume held tightly on his D-Wheel as his life points went from 3100 to 2700.

"Smart strategy from Enjo! He didn't attack this turn, probably fearing Manjoume's Trap Card!" Manjoume frowned as he heard that.

_He's good. He guessed correctly that the trap I set was one that allowed me to save Gaiodiaz. Also, I would have activated his effect and dealt him damage equal to Skull Flame's Defense, other than summoning two more Gladiator Beasts._ "My turn. I draw!" Manjoume drew and cursed. Another Test Tiger. He needed a Gladiator Beast Monster Card to turn things around. He still had more Life Points than his opponent but they were getting reduced pretty quickly. "... Turn end."

"My turn! Draw!" Enjo smiled. "Speed Spell – Count up! By sending any number of card to the graveyard, I increase my speed counters by two! I send one card!" Mukuro's Speed Counters reached 10. "Turn end. Speed Booster's effect activates!

"Aaaah!" Manjoume's D-Wheel swayed again as his life got down to 2100 and his Speed Counters got reduced from 5 to 4 again, while Enjo increased even more, to 11. "My... Turn." He cursed. Gladiator Beast Tygerius didn't shuffle into the deck once he attacked. "... End."

"A pretty tame exchange, but Enjo Mukuro is now in the lead and... Ooooh!" The commentator became as excited as he could when he saw something that rarely happened in a riding duel. "12 Speed Counters! Maximum speed!"

"That's right! The one who was more speed will win a Riding Duel! This speed will be my path to becoming the King!" Mukuro shouted out loud as his D-Wheel kept on distancing itself from Manjoume's own one and was actually starting to gain on him, inverting their positions. "I endured all my training with the belief that to be the King, one must have Speed!" Saying that, he drew one card. "Here I go! Speed Spell, Accel Draw, Activate! This card lets me draw two more cards." The speedster took two more cards from the top of his deck... And then smirked. "It's hereeeeeeee! Speed Spell, the End of Storm!"

"The End of what?" Manjoume raised an eyebrow.

-Break-

"The End of Storm?" Yusei said out loud as he saw the card's close up on the screen in the contestants' room.

-Break-

"This is the King's card. I'll show you how to use The End of Storm in a King's Battle! How a King battles!" If Manjoume had to give his opponent one adjective, it would currently be 'terribly loquacious and repetitive'. "The End of Storm, activate!"

"Darn...!" A cloud of dust raised by strong winds struck the field as the solid vision card activated, even if now Manjoume could only see it by turning around.

"When I have 10 or more Speed Counters, I can activate The End of Storm, and all the Monsters on the field are destroyed! For each monster lost, the player takes 300 points of damage!"

"A powerful card..." The Thunder cringed as he saw both of their Life Points go down of 300, respectively to 2800 and 1800.

"Wow! Mukuro destroyed his own monster to end the stalemate but now he won't be able to follow up with his attack! What will he do?" At the MC's comment, Mukuro just smirked.

"This was all planned. If I remove Skull Flame from my Graveyard, I can Special Summon a monster." That monster being the card that Mukuro raised to the sky before slamming it down on the appropriate card slot. "Yes! Come on! Speed King – Skull Flame!"

Manjoume observed collected as the same monster from before appeared, only having exchanged the flowing robes with a horse body and his 2600 Atk points with 3000 Atk Points. "... Damn it!"

"What the...? He destroyed all the monsters on the field and did damage to himself... And it was all for the purpose of summoning this High Class Monster!" The commentator either sounded or was really excited. Thing is, he was starting to get on Manjoume's nerves. "It's such a perfect combo! What a terrifying Speed Accel Deck!"

"The winner has been decided. Sped King – Skull Flame! Direct attack!" The flaming monster turned back and ran across the whole track in the opposite direction till he was facing Manjoume, ready to stomp on him with his front hooves.

"Trap Card, Waboku! Activate!" Upon card's activation, a barrier of light shone and shielded Manjoume's D-Wheel from the monster which returned to Mukuro's side. "I take no Battle Damage this turn and my monsters cannot be destroyed by battle!" _'If I had any...'_

"Hmph. Well, in that case, Speed Booster's Effect!" That he couldn't avoid. He let out a cry of outrage as his life point decreased of 700 more points, to 1100, and his D-Wheel swayed even more. "And... Speed King – Skull Flame's Effect! For each Burning Skull Head in my cemetery, you take 400 points of damage!"

"What?" Manjoume shouted out loud as two images of said monster materialized, flew high in the air and then slammed right on him, his vehicle vibrating all the while. _Two? … When he used that magic card, before!_

-Break-

"N-Nii-san!" Ruka exclaimed. Rua just gripped his fists tight.

-Break-

"... 300 Life Points left." They weren't enough.

-Break-

"Hihihi... This is looking good, doesn't it?" Jaeger commented. Seemed like, even if they had still lost an assassin, they would be able to get Manjoume out of the cup earlier.

"... Is that all he can do?" Jack murmured, while Mikage cringed in her friend's place.

-Break-

"... Damn it all." Manjoume cursed as he thought of his situation. Without Waboku, he was in a real pinch. Now, even if he by miracle managed to summon a monster with a high enough attack to let him get out alive of the exchange with Speed King – Skull Flame, he would be destroyed and he couldn't start his combo. Also, in any case, Speed Booster could stop all of his attacks. Whatever the case, he would lose next turn. "... Is this the most I can do?"

Sweating, Manjoume went to draw his card for the turn. He turned it around... His eyes widened. "... This card..."

-A few minutes earlier-

"Hmm... I guess I can remove most Spell Cards." Manjoume was sitting beside his newly painted D-Wheel, modifying his deck. "And should I add..."

"Manjoume-san!" His thoughts were interrupted when a loud voice made itself heard. He turned around only to lay eyes on a heaving Rua. Seems like he had ran to get there.

"... Rua." He simply said. They stared at each other for a few seconds before sighing. "Rua, I..."

"I apologize!" Rua cut the black haired teacher-aide off, bowing his head. "I'm sorry but I couldn't, I can't help but worry! Because I fear that you will lose... And lose badly! That's the worse feeling in the world!"

"... Ah." Now he understood. Rua probably knew that better than him since he had recently did that very same thing to him.

"T-That's why..." Rua raised his head back up and presented a single card to Manjoume. "Please, use these in the next duel!"

"... Speed Spell – Angel Baton." Manjoume read the name of the card out loud. "Draw 2 Cards, then discard 1 card. And... Summon Speeder?"

"They're the only Speed Spell Cards I have and... I want you to have them! Please!" Rua continued, emotionally caught in the whole situation. "Let me help in some way!"

"... Rua." Manjoume repeated his name, realizing that, for all his boisterousness, loudness, knuckle-head behaviour... He smiled gently and patted him on his head. "Thank you." The kid was growing on him.

-Right Now-

"... Rua." Manjoume closed his eyes. _'I'll bet everything on this card.'_ "Magic Card, Activate!"

-Break-

"A magic card? But how-"

"... That's one of my cards!" Rua exclaimed, clearing everything up for everyone else.

-Break-

"Speed Spell – Angel Baton!" Manjoume declared as the card materialized on the track. "I draw two cards, then I discard one card!" Manjoume first discarded the useless Equip spell card he was holding onto from when he had summoned Spartacus, and then placed his fingers on his deck.

"Oooh! Manjoume has no cards on his field! And just two cards he couldn't use in his hand Everything... Everything is riding on this draw!" The MC declared but Manjoume didn't react in any way. He was too focused.

_'Everything riding on one draw... This usually happened to you.'_ Manjoume gripped the first two cards of the deck tightly, plucking them out and then expanding them. The first one was Rua's other card, Speed Spell - Summon Speeder. The second one... His eyes widened. _'When the hell did I put this card in this deck? I...'_

"_Aaah! I already got three of these!"_

"_So?" Why the hell did he decide to come open booster packs in his... Well, their room, while he was asleep he would never understand._

"_Hmm... Even if I wanted I couldn't use it, so..." He blinked and then turned upwards, to the bunk where he was sleeping. "Here! You take it!"_

"_I don't use Elemental Heroes." He replied, not bothering to open his eyes yet._

"_Ah, come on! Still, you're the only one who uses more than one kind of deck! I'm sure that sooner or later, you'll find an use for this card as well!" That earned his attention. He slowly opened his eyes, laying them on the card in question. "I bet you could already use it. In your VWXYZ deck?"_

"_... If the alternative is for you to throw it away... I guess I'll take it." He sighed and gently collected the card._

"_Hey! I never throw away cards! It's just, with you, I'm sure sooner or later it'll get used!"_

He did. He had put it in the deck last night, when he was more awake than asleep... He smiled.

-Break-

"Heh? Manjoume-nii-san..."

"... He's smiling." Rua declared, a smile coming to his face as well. "Manjoume-san is smiling!"

-Break-

"... Rua! Judai!" Manjoume suddenly shouted out loud, surprising the aquamarine boy in the crowd.

-Break-

"What is it?" And a certain glutton in a diner.

-Break-

"This victory is your victory!" Manjoume added the two cards to his hand and then picked up 'that' card out of the three. "I summon Elemental Hero Prisma!"

"Heh? Elemental Hero?" Mukuro repeated, confused as he observed a humanoid figure suddenly appearing in front of Manjoume's D-Wheel, reflecting the light off him in a myriad of colors before... "H-Hey!"

"A-Aaaah!" Suddenly, Manjoume twisted his D-Wheel around. He was now riding backwards. That was the reason he had chose that particular D-Wheel, for that function. "Incredible! Manjoume Thunder suddenly gives us a spectacular maneuver! Also, an Elemental Hero in a Gladiator Beast deck? How peculiar! Still, his attack points are only 1700! Is this the thunder's swan song?"

"Monster effect, activate!" Manjoume declared. "Once a turn, I can reveal 1 Fusion Monster from my Extra Deck, then send one of the Fusion Material Monsters of that card from my Main Deck to my Graveyard! This card's name becomes the same of the discarded card!" The Black Thunder quickly presented the two chosen cards. "I choose Gladiator Beasts Gyzarius and Bestiari!" Prisma's light reflected off his body suddenly condensed in the image of Bestiari. "Then, I activate the Speed Spell – Summon Speeder! And I summon from my hand Gladiator Beast Tygerius!" Declaring this, the spell card shone of blue light and a humanoid white tiger wearing violet armor, holding a sword, appeared on the field (Atk 1800). "Contact fusion!"

"Another contact fusion! What will Manjoume Thunder show us, this time?" The MC commented as the hero and the beast flew high in the sky and then disappeared in a flash of green light.

"Appear! Gladiator Beast Gyzarius!" Flying high before dropping down in a swoop and stretching his wing and limbs at the same time, the black humanoid bird with red plumage instead of hair, wearing a full black armour let out a battle cry (Atk 2400). "Monster effect! When Gyzarius gets Fusion Summoned, I can destroy up to two cards on the field!"

"EH? THEN..." Mukuro realized immediately what that meant as his monster got destroyed in an explosion of flames and golden light. "Skull Flame and... My Speed Booster!" His Jet engines disappeared as well. He gritted his teeth. "... Manjouuuumeeee!"

"Manjoume Thunder! And now, since I have a Gladiator Beast on my field, I Special Summon from my hand one Test Tiger!" Said feline appeared on the field.

"Aaaaah! A wonderful comeback!" MC shouted, excited. "Mukuro's field is wide open!"

"I tribute the Test Tiger to shuffle Gyzarius back into my Extra Deck and then special summon two Gladiator Beasts! Appear, Gladiator Beasts Murmillo and Dimacari!" The Gladiator Beast and the tiger disappeared in sparkles of light and the blue humanoid fish appeared again joined by a bigger looking Gladiator Beast, this one a humanoid bovine with purple skin, long curved horns and wearing huge steel gloves(Atk 1600).

"... Heh. A good combo, but, I will get you next turn, bocchama!" Mukuro declared, laughing out loud. "Stupid! You should have finished me with Gyzarius and the Test Tiger!"

"What makes you think you will have a next turn?" Manjoume cut it off, which confused the red-headed d-wheeler. "Dimacari's special effect is that when he gets summoned by the effect of another Gladiator Beast... He can attack twice during each battle phase!"

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT?" Mukuro shouted as the towering mass of purple muscles descended upon him.

"Go, Dimacari! Direct Attack! Twin Dimacari Hook!"

-Break-

"Nii-san!"

"YEAAAAAAAH!"

-Break-

"Go for it, Thunder!"

-Break-

"... Hmph."

-Break-

"AAAAAAAAAAARGH!" Mukuro shouted out loud as the two attacks in rapid succession reduced his Life Points to 0, his D-Wheeler spinning out of control and crashing on the ground.

"It's over! Manjoume used a splendid combo and seized a turn-around victory!" The MC commented while Manjoume's D-Wheel slowly came to a stop a few meters way from Mukuro's crash site.

"... Finally over." Manjoume whispered under his breath as he removed his helmet and approached his downed opponent, the crowd cheering all the while.

-Break-

"Yes! He did it!" Rua cheered, hugging Tenpei around the neck. "Manjoume-san won! And he used my cards to do it!"

"... I guess his being undefeated as a pro wasn't luck." Himuro conceded. The duel had been enjoyable.

-Break-

"... Yo." Mukuro laughed and saluted Manjoume as the black-haired duelist approached him.

"... I have to thank you, Mukuro." Manjoume told him as he extended his hand for him to grab onto. The D-Wheeler stared at it for a couple seconds before accepting the help and getting pulled back on his feet and then the Thunder began to shook his hand. "You showed me that a Duelist never stops learning. It was probably for the best to have such a strong D-Wheeler as my opponent in this duel."

"Heheheh... Thanks." Mukuro shook the hand back, a bit embarrassed at the praise. "Well, today I lost, but next time... I won't!"

"I'll be waiting for you." _After I learn to drive one of these things..._

-Break-

"Heh. He hasn't lost his touch." As he paid for his food, he sighed, remembering fond memories. "Our duels were so much fun. Right, partner?" The spirit replied with his usual noise. He smiled. "Yeah... Well, let's go! The world awaits!"

-Break-

"... Seems like there's still a chance to fight him in a Riding Duel, Atlas-sama." Mikage said with a smile as Jack 'hmph'-ed.

"Seems so." He conceded, while Godwin just observed the cheering stadium, Manjoume's face displayed along with the word 'winner' all over the giant screens.

"... Indeed, it seems that when I went looking for strength, my judgment wasn't faulty."

-Break-

"... I really don't understand what goes through that guy's head." She never could. She huffed. "First he becomes a pro, then he drops out after three years to become a teacher and now he's in a live-television exclusive tournament in Neo-Domino City. What the hell?"

"Well, it's nice to see that he hasn't lost his touch nor his talent." He turned to the pudgy man sitting a few feet away on another chair. "Well, I trust everything is ready?"

"Yes, principal. Everything is prepared as not to leave anything overlooked during your absence-de aru." The strange man nodded while the taller one stood up from his chair.

"Very well. Then, we will be departing immediately for Neo Domino City." The man declared, moving a hand to adjust his blonde hair. "I bet Signor Manjoume will be very surprised to see us-na no ne."

_To be continued..._

_In the next chapter..._

After proving his valor as a Duelist, Manjoume gets faced with another trial, this time as a teacher as he finds himself to duel against Izayoi Aki, the Black Rose Witch. What will his choices bring about? And who will he turn to for advice? Stay tuned!


End file.
